Built in 1894, Ernestina is a storied boat that is the last of her kind

Built in 1894, Ernestina, ex Effie M. Morrissey, is the only remaining offshore Fredonia-style schooner. She is also one of only two sailing arctic exploration vessels left afloat in the U.S. After a long career fishing and carrying cargo, she was purchased in 1926 by Captain Robert A. Bartlett, a Canadian-born arctic explorer and companion of arctic explorer Robert E. Peary. [1]

Under Bartlett, the Morrissey made 20 voyages north, documenting the flora and fauna of the region for patrons ranging from the National Geographic Society, the Smithsonian Institution, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, the Museum of the American Indian, and others. Featured in Pathe newsreels, and children’s books by David Putnam, the Morrissey was as popular in the 1920s and 30s as Jacques Cousteau and the Calypso were in the 1960s and 70s.

After a long career through World War II and beyond during which she was renamed her Ernestina, she finally returned home and was restored in 1982 to become an educational vessel offering sail training trips and shoreside interpretive programs.

[1] Ernestina was recorded and measured as part of the Historic American Engineering Record, a project of the National Park Service. The project was directed by Todd Croteau, HAER maritime program manager. The historical report was created by Christine DeLucia, student conservation association intern and edited by Justine Christianson, HAER historian. Drawings were delineated by Caleb Reed, Karolina Walichiewicz, Katherine Whalen, and Matthew Jacobs. Photography was produced by James Rosenthal and Todd Croteau. Harold Burnham, restoration manager, assisted the team with technical details.