Clearing 2 feet of snow from your driveway is tiring enough. Removing it from a 113-foot historic whaling ship anchored in the river is another story entirely.
Shipbuilders at Connecticut’s Mystic Seaport Museum carefully dug Tuesday amid a record-breaking snowstorm in the Northeast, using only rubber and plastic shovels. Any metal object, such as a snowblower or metal shovel, can damage the decks of the Charles W. Morgan and other wooden ships in the Maritime Museum’s collection.
“You must use caution when traveling,” said Shannon McKenzie, vice president of vessel operations and conservation. “The added difficulty is that you have to raise it up to all the railings of the boat, and for the Morgan it was 4, 3 feet in some places. So it was a lot of work.”
Scott Gifford, director of the museum’s shipyard, said staff are working to mitigate wear and tear on natural materials that are authentic to the ship’s history. This included caulking the seams of Morgan’s decking with pitch (a mixture of pine tar, linseed oil, and other “old-fashioned potions”) to prevent leaks. It can be pulled out with a metal shovel.
Clearing the snow is just the first step. Pure rock salt must then be spread over the deck to remove any remaining ice or snow. Fresh water from melting snow is bad for wood.
“Wooden boats definitely prefer salt water to fresh water. It kind of pickles them, which is much better for the wood,” McKenzie said. “So we put salt on the deck so that the fresh water from melting snow would absorb the salt and not cause the boat to rot.”
Gifford said the process essentially repeats the way wooden boats were preserved generations ago, when vessels were often washed with salt water.
“It wasn’t our idea,” he said. “This was something that existed in the wooden boat world long before us.”
Mystic Seaport is the largest maritime museum in the United States, housing three large ships, including the Morgan, the last remaining wooden whaleship in the 19th-century U.S. Merchant Marine. There are also about a dozen medium-sized ships in the museum that need to be cleared of snow every storm.
On Tuesday, we officially began clearing boats and the entire 37 acres of riverfront land, including parking lots, in preparation for this latest storm. The Maritime Museum includes a historic harbor village with cobblestone, slate and gravel walkways that must be shoveled by hand. This process has been repeated several times this winter.
“It kind of tested our patience,” McKenzie said with a laugh.
She said an enthusiastic team of about a dozen people started cleaning the boats at 7 a.m. and finished by lunchtime. They then joined about seven other workers to help clear the vast site.
“There were piles of snow, but it was really beautiful. It was such a beautiful day outside,” she said. “It wasn’t too cold. It was great. We had a lot of fun.”
During storms, workers must keep a close eye on the vessel. McKenzie said there’s always a risk that snow could compromise its stability, especially if it’s piled up on one side.
The museum is expected to open to staff on Wednesday with limited exhibits available to visitors. The Morgan Hotel will be ready for visitors over the weekend. But that may depend on the latest forecast, which includes more snow.