Page 8. MAINE COASTAL NEWS January 2014


MYSTIC SEAPORT NAMES 22ND CAPTAIN FOR CHARLES W. MORGAN Waterfront News


Richard “Kip” Files to take the helm of the 19th


century whaling ship


ahead of her voyage next summer MYSTIC, CT – Mystic Seaport named Richard “Kip” Files of Rockland, Maine as the new captain of the 19th century whaling ship the CHARLES W. MORGAN, which will venture back to sea next summer to visit historic ports of New England celebrating the importance of America’s maritime heritage.


At the conclusion of a five-year, multi-million dollar restoration at the museum’s Henry B. duPont Preservation Shipyard, Files will take the MORGAN on an approximately three-month voyage from May to August in Southern New England waters.


“This is an extraordinary undertaking and it will be exciting to take this ship back to sea to discover and share what it was like to operate a wooden whaleship as they did throughout the 19th century,” Files said. As the owner and captain of the 132- foot, three-masted schooner VICTORY CHIMES out of Rockland, Files is no strang- er to sailing large ships with no engine. He is also the primary captain of the 207-foot barque ELISSA, owned and operated by the Galveston Historical Foundation and Texas Seaport Museum. Files holds a U.S. Coast Guard Master Ocean License for Inspected Passenger Vessels of up to 1600 Gross Tons. He has been a master of traditional sailing vessels since 1978. He also served on the boards of Tall Ships America (formerly the American Sail Training Association) and the Ocean Classroom Foundation.


“There are very few people in the world with the knowledge and experience of tradi- tional square-rigged sailing necessary to do this job. Kip is one of those people and we are confi dent we have found the right person to be lead the ship on her 38th Voyage,” said Steve White, president of Mystic Seaport. Files will arrive at Mystic Seaport to start work on November 11. He will be


charged with hiring the MORGAN’s crew and preparing and equipping her for the 38th Voyage. After a period of fi tting out and sea trials based in New London, CT. Files will sail her to Newport, Vineyard Haven, New Bedford, and Boston. The MORGAN will also venture onto the Stellwagen Bank Na- tional Marine Sanctuary with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and participate in the centennial celebration of the Cape Cod Canal. The voyage will be a commemoration of the role of the sea in the history of America and an appreciation of our changing relationship with the natural world.


“For someone who has made his living with traditional vessels this is quite an hon- or,” Files said. “The 38th


Voyage will be one


of the most signifi cant maritime events in my lifetime, and I feel privileged and humbled to be part of this historic voyage.” As the 22nd


captain of the National His-


toric Landmark and the last wooden whaling ship in the world, Files takes his responsibil- ity for the well-being of the vessel and the safety of the crew very seriously. “The most important goal is to achieve a safe voyage for the ship and all who sail on her,” Files said. “The CHARLES W. MOR- GAN is an irreplaceable artifact of Ameri- ca’s maritime heritage and her well-being is paramount.” At 113 feet long, the CHARLES W. MORGAN was launched in New Bedford, MA. in 1841 and had a whaling career of 80 years and 37 voyages that spanned the far reaches of the globe. “While her original cargo was whale oil and bone, now her cargo is knowledge. Commanding this American icon and presenting her to the American people as a living portal into an important chapter of our history is an honor,” Files said.


Although he’s sailed in oceans across the globe for close to half a century, Files said he hasn’t yet experienced a favorite sail. However, the MORGAN’s 38th


Voyage is 2013 LOBSTER BOAT RACE CD


“going to be a quite the adventure,” he said. Mystic Seaport is the nation’s leading maritime museum. Founded in 1929, the Museum is home to four N ational Historic Landmark vessels, including the CHARLES W. MORGAN, America’s oldest commer- cial ship and the last wooden whaleship in


A Storm Too Soon


A True Story of Disaster, Survival and Incredible Rescue


NOW IN PAPERBACK by Michael Tougias


Author of Overboard!, Fatal Forecast and Co-author The Finest Hours Scribner is pleased to announce the paperback publication of A STORM TOO SOON: A True Story of Disaster, Surviv- al, and an Incredible Rescue (January 7, 2014), the latest book from the master of maritime-disaster stories himself, Michael Tougias. Following the success of Over- board!, Fatal Forecast, and The Finest Hours, this heart-stopping true story of strength, survival, and heroism is his best one yet.


In early May of 2007 Captain Jean Pierre DeLutz and crewmates Rudy Snell and Ben Tye set sail from Florida for a trans-Atlantic voyage aboard their 47-foot sailboat, the Sean Seymour II. Just fi ve days into the trip they are caught in the grips of a monster storm, capsizing the boat over and over again until it fi nally sinks beneath the thrashing waves, leaving them desperately holding onto their life raft. Over the next ten hours the three men fi ght panic and repeatedly save each other’s lives, all while clinging to the hope that the Coast Guard will come to their rescue. Little do they know that the boat’s EPIRB emergency signal device was defective, and the Coast Guard never received their S.O.S. call.


Also caught in the storm are three other sailboats, all in May Day situations. While looking for one of the other vessels, a Coast Guard helicopter spots the Sean Seymour’s life raft, sparking one of the most complex and massive rescue operations in Coast


the world. The museum is located one mile south of Exit 90 off I-95 in Mystic, CT. Ad- mission is $24 for adults and $15 for children ages 6-17. Museum members and children 5 and under are admitted free. For more in- formation, please visit www.mysticseaport. org.


Guard history. The helicopter nearly crash- es, a rescue swimmer must battle for his own life in the unruly waters, and the Coast Guard fi nds itself in almost as much trouble as the survivors, facing one life-and-death moment after the next. And despite the heroism of the Coast Guard on that fateful day, only six of the ten people on those three boats will ever see land again.


Spellbinding, harrowing, and meticu- lously researched, A STORM TOO SOON is a vivid story about the powerful collision between the force of nature and the human will to survive in the most extreme of cir- cumstances. NEXT FROM TOUGIAS –


RESCUE OF THE BOUNTY: Disaster and Survival in Superstorm Sandy (Coming from Scribner on April 2014) For anyone who lived on the East Coast


last year, Superstorm Sandy was unforget- table. Some lost homes, many faced closed subway lines and much longer commutes, and all were horrifi ed by the devastation infl icted by the tempest. Many now consider the storm a defi ning moment of 2012. But how much more traumatic an experience Sandy would have been if one were caught in the center of the storm, not in a home or on land, but on a boat in the middle of the Atlantic. In RESCUE OF THE BOUNTY: Di-


saster and Survival in Superstorm Sandy (Scribner, on-sale: April 1, 2014), Michael Tougias—master of the maritime disaster tale—recounts the nerve-wracking story of the sinking and rescue efforts surrounding “The Bounty,” a huge wooden ship that sailed directly to the center of the storm and went down in its monstrous seas. To the out-


Continued on Page 20.


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