Schooner Ernestina - Morrissey Association
The community of Ernestina/Effie M. Morrissey supporters is a widespread and diverse group. From Massachusetts to the Arctic and across the Atlantic to Africa, Ernestina's story matters.
For fishermen and explorers, for scientists and immigrants, for students of history and sea-faring folk, Ernestina's story matters. The City of New Bedford values its designation as her homeport. The Morrissey started her long career as a fishing schooner and she matters to the New Bedford fisherfolk who ply the oceans now facing as many challenges as the men who rowed their dories of cod to the Morrissey over 100 years ago.
The city's Cape Verdean community values Ernestina, proud of this gift from their country of origin. They speak of grandparents who sailed to this country on Ernestina when New Bedford was a destination during the packet years. Ernestina's matters to Massachusetts. 4000 schooners were launched from Essex shipyards during the great shipbuilding era. Ernestina is one of only a handful left. She matters as a representative of the great shipbuilding traditions of all of Massachusetts. Ernestina matters to Gloucester, her first homeport, representing all the vessels that sailed out of this famous fishing port, "salt-bankers" that returned with holds filled with cod. She matters to the great fishing families of New England and maritime Canada like the Morrisseys who built her. The Morrissey's ties to Canada were strengthened when Captain "Bob" Bartlett bought her in 1926. His family home is now a National Park in Brigus, NL and Newfoundlanders everywhere know of Captain Bob's "Little Morrissey" and will welcome the time when the ship, now as Ernestina, can return to Canadian ports. Many young men from New York and Philadelphia sailed with Bartlett on his voyages north each summer. Ernestina and the life-shaping experiences they had on her deck matter to these "Bartlett Boys" and their families. They partnered with Cape Verdean organizations in the efforts to return the ship to the United States and continued to be active as supporters and Commissioners.
All the scientific observations and collections made aboard "Little Morrissey" matter to present-day scientists studying the rapid changes in the Arctic. She matters to World War II veterans whose exploits aboard the ship are chronicled in an article in the May 1946 National Geographic Magazine. Ernestina matters to the Cape Verdean Diaspora all across this great immigrant nation. She matters to anyone who recognizes the contributions of men and women from many nations who risked so much for the opportunities offered by the United States. Finally, as the "real thing" not a replica, Ernestina matters to the Tall Ship community and to those students and crew who have sailed on her. Thousands, young and old, experienced raising the sails together, felt the power as they handled the wheel, learned the lessons of mathematics and science and of observing nature, of the histories of the many very different people who sailed on this ship.
Ernestina can touch the future in an irreplaceable way. This Treasure Matters! Keep Ernestina Sailing!
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