[Subnuts]

Just finished reading this book. More of a photography book than the kind of book you read cover to cover, but the photographs are excellent nonetheless.

Here's my review if anyone is interested:
https://www.amazon.com/review/R39O2S...cm_cr_rdp_perm

Having been onboard the Charles W Morgan a number of times, and closely followed her restoration and 38th voyage, I'm quite pleased with how this book turned out. Its essentially what you'd expect from the title - a nice coffee table style history of the "Morgan" dominated by photographs. There's some text, but I imagine most readers could burn through it in two hours easily. Thankfully, the photographs, sourced from Mystic Seaport's massive archive, are crisply reproduced, large, and have useful captions. A large number were taken in the early 1900s in the final years of Yankee whaling, and depict life and work aboard, the ship in harbor and in refit, and portraits of the owners, captains, and their wives.

The ships post-retirement "career" and life as a museum exhibit occupy the final two thirds. There are some interesting photos of the ship as she appeared in two silent movies and in "Amistad," and her first 65 years at Mystic Seaport. The highlight of this book is definitely the final chapter, focusing on the 38th voyage carried out in 2014. The photographs in this section are simply wonderful, and it wasn't hard to imagine the sound of creaking wood, splashing waves, and wind whistling through the rigging. They're tremendously evocative, and probably the closest anyone will ever get to see a 19th century whaler "in action." If not for the modern clothing and safety harnesses worn by the crew, you'd think the photographer had taken a time machine back to mid 1800s.

A couple of caveats. The book is rather expensive for what it is. I got an excellent price on a gently used copy, but I'd probably only give this three stars if I'd paid the full $39.99 at the Seaport gift shop. The photographs are great, but the relative scarcity of text means there isn't much re-read value. That aside, this book is a nice memento on America's oldest surviving merchant ship, and a fine tribute to the exceptionally fine work carried out by the Henry B. duPont Preservation Shipyard and the team at Mystic Seaport.