All Aboard the Charles W. Morgan
Narrator: Welcome to Mystic Seaport Museum in Mystic, Connecticut! Today, a group of students is stepping back in time. They are boarding the Charles W. Morgan, the worldâs last surviving wooden whaling ship.
Mr. Davis: Watch your step, class! As we walk across this gangplank, we are stepping onto a vessel built way back in 1841.
Maya: Wow, Mr. Davis! The wood under our feet feels so solid. It is hard to believe this ship is over one hundred and eighty years old.
Leo: Look at all these ropes and giant wooden poles! How did the sailors know what to do with all of them?
Mr. Davis: Those wooden poles are called masts, Leo. And the ropes are part of the rigging, which held up the giant canvas sails. It took an incredibly skilled crew to navigate this ship across the stormy oceans.
Narrator: The students walk toward the middle of the deck, where they see a large brick structure with two giant iron pots.
Maya: What is this brick stove doing in the middle of the deck? It looks like a giant outdoor kitchen.
- gangplank:
- A moveable ramp or bridge used by people to board or leave a ship.
- masts:
- Tall, vertical wooden poles on a ship that support the sails.
- rigging:
- The system of ropes and chains used to support and control a ship's masts and sails.
- tryworks:
- A brick stove containing large iron pots used on whaling ships to melt blubber into oil.
- blubber:
- The thick layer of fat underneath the skin of whales and other sea mammals.
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Preview questions from this passageShowHide
- 1Where is the Charles W. Morgan located today?
- 2In what year was the Charles W. Morgan built?
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About this reader's theater passage for Upper Elementary
âAll Aboard the Charles W. Morganâ is a reader's theater reading passage about Maritime History, written for Upper Elementary. It takes about 3 minutes to read (455 words) and comes with an interactive quiz and a printable worksheet with comprehension questions and an answer key.