Ceiling removal
Enough ceiling has been removed to permit the replacement of futtocks running from the between decks down to the turn of the bilge. (Futtocks are components of the framing. Each frame consists of several futtocks of varying lengths.) Once the framing in this portion is replaced, the ceiling will be reinstalled and the same process (ceiling removal and futtock replacement) will be repeated on the lower ends of the frames.
What the shipwrights have exposed is shown in a video under the 8/28/09 posting. We can now see in remarkable detail frames, salt shelves and an amazingly complex pattern of fasteners. Types of fasteners include trunnels, which affix planking, ceiling and futtocks (these run fore and aft), copper rivets and metal spikes. The shipwrights won’t try to replicate the exact location and number of fasteners; rather they will document what is there and replace with new fasteners as deemed necessary.
It was thought that the Morgan‘s frame was made of white oak. What we have found is that much of it is southern long leaf pine and some of its rarer cousin, short leaf pine. A wood technologist is helping us confirm the wood species. Also discovered was a “mysterious” compound near the portside turn of the bilge, which apparently had been used to plug a hole. It, too, has been sent out for analysis.
What is particularly exciting for the shipwrights in both their role as carpenters and restorers is the fact that they are looking at history which has not been seen since at least the 1880′s when the Morgan underwent a major restoration prior to her move to San Francisco. In some places this area has not been revealed since she was built in 1841. At this stage the Museum is undertaking painstaking documentation of the ship’s construction. Photographs are being taken and an industrial designer has been hired to draw sections that cannot be photographed effectively.