As a review, here and here were the posts I did on Wavertree going TO Caddell 11 months ago, and here is the series 1 through 4 focusing on Wavertree AT Caddell’s.
Below was she on March 10. While I was away, she was refloated.
Below is March 19. To my surprise, the masts had been unstepped.
And below was yesterday, April 17, the day when Executive Director of South Street Seaport Museum, Jonathan Boulware, conducted a tour of the work in progress. Any errors in this reportage are due to my having forgotten my pen and pad.
Since the masts–at up to 20 tons each, if I heard that right–were unstepped, their cleanup and refurbishment has begun.
A house has been built over the whaleback stern to protect the interior spaces. There is some beautiful birdseye maple panelling in there.
The underside of the whaleback shows the details of work already completed.
This is the interior of the upper stern, looking to starboard.
Access to the cargo areas during the tour was forward.
I’m eager to see what work gets done to the bowsprit. Check out this post (and scroll) from many years ago when Frank Hanavan and I put fresh paint on that bowsprit.
This is a new deck . . . the tweendeck. If you’ve ever eaten on Moshulu in Philadelphia, the restaurant is in this space.
Wavertree had a tweendeck back in 1895, when she called briefly in the sixth boro, which you can read about here (scroll). In the photo below, you are looking through a hatch in the tweendeck down into the main cargo hold.
And here is the main payload space, the cathedral of cargo, looking toward the stern. On a modern vessel, this would be divided into watertight compartments.
I can’t say this is the manufacturer, but this is the concept–as I understand it–for this ballast.
Mainmast will be restepped here.
Here Jonathan explains the spar work.
When the project is completed, all these spars will be aloft and potentially functional.
This cross section of a spar shows the lamination of the wood. Some of these products are provided–I believe–by Unalam.
Here are some of the finer spars, along
with the directions for re-assembly.
Work going on in the rigging shed included stripping off the old coatings and recovering the high quality old wire of the standing rigging.
Worming, parcelling, and serving protects the wire and produces such sweet smells of pine tar.
Many thanks to South Street Seaport Museum for offering this work progress tour. Any errors here are unintentional and mine.
All photos by Will Van Dorp, who thinks anyone who hasn’t read A Dream of Tall Ships by the late great Peter Stanford would really enjoy the saga of Wavertree‘s arrival in the sixth boro as told in that book.
17 comments
Comments feed for this article
April 18, 2016 at 11:11 am
ws
The Best Expense account food: Moshulu.
On the Philadelphia waterfront,
A great shot of Moshulu is in Rocky One
April 18, 2016 at 11:22 am
matt
GREAT SET!!! Thanks for having us aboard!
April 18, 2016 at 2:07 pm
glen
Are there any photos or video of Wavertree under sail?
April 18, 2016 at 2:31 pm
tugster
If there are photos of her under sail, I’m not aware of them. Keep in mind that she was dismasted around 1905 (‘d have to look up the exact date) and then transformed into a barge. Since coming to NYC, she’s never sailed under her own power. Peter Stanford’s book has the specifics.
April 18, 2016 at 5:47 pm
Wavertree rig crew
She sailed on July 3rd 2000 with a woefully underpowered tug on the hip. It was a blast.
April 18, 2016 at 3:44 pm
eastriver
Super photo series, Will. Thanks from those of us who could not attend.
No, sadly, there are no sailing photos of Wavertree.
April 18, 2016 at 6:05 pm
Jim Gallant
Thanks, Will! Great pleasure to see the internal bare bones of a fine ship like WAVERTREE on display in those wonderful shots of yours.Thanks for sharing them with those of us who can’t get to see it all in person before the internal bulkheads, decking, and paneling is all put back into place. Fantastic!
April 18, 2016 at 9:30 pm
B
Who did the welding in pic 7?
Areally poor job.
April 19, 2016 at 11:29 am
Anonymous
How can you tell it’s bad? Does iron need different welding?
April 19, 2016 at 11:34 am
AC_Magee
How can you tell it is bad welding? Isn’t it iron?
April 19, 2016 at 11:49 am
tugster
I’m no welder, but I know that welding wrought iron requires knowledge I believe was brought in: http://www.esabna.com/euweb/oxy_handbook/589oxy16_10.htm
April 19, 2016 at 4:26 am
sfdi1947
Not ballast Will, a Ceiling is installed on the Floors, and cargo is loaded, When she was new, on the Australia run the deck above for emigrants and manufactured good going out, bailed wool returning. After that till the end of working sail Machinery and Manufactured goods out to Chile, Argentina [Tierra del Fuego, Ushuaia,] Sacked Nitrates back to Europe, for fertilizer, but also for dynamite and military explosives. Jules Vern called it the Hateful Trade in “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.” though he used wooden ships for Nautilus to ram. A ship like Wavetree, though not compartmentalized would have ruined Nemo’s day. An iron hull would create a terrible headache.
Info is from Alan Villiers books and videos.
Pardon my outpouring, but you get a lot of time to read on a Deep Sea tow.
April 19, 2016 at 10:55 am
Jack Belton
Living in Bayonne NJ I have been looking at the project from afar but see it up close gives me new insight on the project to restore the ship. Hopefully one day when the ship is completed I would like to make a tour of the ship
April 19, 2016 at 11:53 am
tugster
I don’t exactly know the time frame, but when it moves back to South Street Seaport Museum, I’ll put up photos of the transit.
April 20, 2016 at 10:15 am
Pete Raynor
Those photos just brought her alive. Thank you. Pete
May 30, 2016 at 10:24 am
dayboatscallops
the article
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/30/nyregion/seaworthy-and-ready-for-an-early-unveiling.html
mentioned that the iron repairs went easier than expected – anyone comment on why?
also, I believe this wrought iron stuff of that era was pretty special (as noted above due to the nature of iron production in those days) – is the hull still original iron, or has it been replaced??
May 30, 2016 at 11:10 am
eastriver
The article mentions “the 4 ½-by-20-foot slabs of iron, which sit below the water line, needed only minor repairs.” Seems probable that out-of-the-water inspection, perhaps ultrasound, revealed less wastage than expected.
There are some steel patches, most quite small. I’d guesstimate that over 95% is still original iron. Iron and salt water get along together better than steel.