The 1894 schooner Ernestina (ex. Effie M. Morrissey), the official sailing vessel of Massachusetts, had already had two major careers – the first one as a Grand Banks fishing schooner; the second as an Arctic explorer under Captain Bob Bartlett. With the outbreak of World War II, she would once again change careers. She would be serving the United States Government.
Arctic Expeditions During World War II
When the war began, the schooner Effie M. Morrissey, under the command of Captain Bob Bartlett, was already experienced in sailing in Arctic waters. She had been taking scientists, students, and photographers on expeditions since 1926. Captain Bob had spent his life sailing in the Arctic. He gained recognition as Admiral Peary’s ice navigator during the polar expeditions from 1905 through 1909.
As the United States entered the war, the U. S. Government would be using the schooner Morrissey as a supply ship for airbases being built to connect Newfoundland to Murmansk, a city in northwestern Russia that is north of the Arctic Circle. Murmansk was the stop for an important supply line. The schooner had a significant role in the successful airlift of supplies that were essential for the Soviet allies. Dr. Alexander Forbes, the Navy commander in charge of the project, described the operation in his book Quest for a Northern Air Route (Harvard University Press, 1952).
The schooner was made ready for wartime at the Brooklyn Navy yard in June 1942. She was painted battleship grey, and a 50 caliber machine gun was added aboard. Captain Bartlett received a letter from President Roosevelt to make sure that Morrissey would have all necessary supplies. On June 17th, she shipped out of lower New York Harbor for an undisclosed station in the Arctic.
Her first mission was to take a party from "Crystal One," the code name of a base that was approximately thirty-five miles up the Kohsoak River, to a base, code-named "Crystal Two," at the head of Frobisher Bay, located in the southeastern corner of Baffin Island. Bartlett had been to Baffin Island before when one of his expeditions in the 1920s was to map the island.For this current mission, he was to sound out a channel for large convoy ships in this region of high tides exceeding forty feet, drifting ice, and large boulders.Even with his considerable skill, it was a rough journey.The schooner scraped the boulders repeatedly, taking quite a beating.
The schooner Morrissey undertook two more expeditions for the U.S. Government during the war. In 1943, she performed survey work for military establishments in the Hudson Strait region. In 1944, she serviced military and weather establishments along the southern and eastern coasts of Greenland. These weather stations were used to monitor the weather patterns of Europe, an important tool for planning air raids and assaults.
The Post War Years
When Bartlett, and his “little Morrissey,” returned to Greenland in 1945, there were weather stations, air force bases, service clubs, and a good highway. The survey work and research done aboard the schooner contributed to the understanding of weather patterns in these northern regions.
In April, 1946, Bartlett died of pneumonia in New York. He was 70 years old. After his death, the schooner was sold to Melvin and Sidney R. Jackson of New York City. They were brothers, both with unlimited master’s licenses. They installed modern luxuries, including hot water showers, and painted her white. They were planning a cruise to Tahiti and the sailing date was set for Thanksgiving, 1947.
She was docked at the Flushing Boat Basin in New York when, a few days before departure, a fire started in the galley and swept through her interior. The only way to save her was to deliberately sink her. Bartlett’s friends insisted that the schooner had “committed suicide” rather than be transformed into a luxury cruising ship to the South Pacific.
She was raised, sold for $500, and towed to Rowayton, Connecticut. Once again, she was about to embark on another chapter in her distinguished career. This new chapter would take her across the Atlantic, from New Bedford to Cape Verde. She would become an ambassador for the ages, getting a new name of Ernestina, and inspiring books, stories, and several generations of memories.
Source:
Houston, Laura Pires and Michael K. H. Platzer, Ernestina / Effie M. Morrissey, Commemorative Edition, published by Friends of the Ernestina/Morrissey Committee, New York, 1982.
