Mystic Seaport names captain for Charles W. Morgan

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Richard “Kip” Files of Rockland, Maine, will be master of the rebuilt 19th-century whaling ship Charles W. Morgan when it returns to sea next summer to visit ports of New England that figured in the vessel’s commercial career.

A five-year, multi-million-dollar restoration at the museum’s Henry B. duPont Preservation Shipyard will make the Morgan ready for sea once more. Captain Files will take the Morgan on three-month voyage from May to August in Southern New England waters.

The owner and captain of the 132-foot, three-masted schooner Victory Chimes of Rockland, Maine, Captain Files is familiar with the operation of large, engine-less sailing. He also serves as primary captain of the 207-foot barque Elissa, owned and operated by the Galveston Historical Foundation and Texas Seaport Museum. Captain Files will be the 22nd captain of the Morgan, a National Historic Landmark and the last wooden whaling ship in the world.

One hundred thirteen feet long overall, the Morgan was launched in New Bedford in 1841, and she had a whaling career of 80 years and 37 voyages.