Whaling Brig KATE CORY, c. 1860
Class A Scratch Built Model, Plank on Solid Hull Construction Scale: 1:48
Case Dimensions: 48-1/4” long, 21-1/8” wide and 32” tall
$60,000
The Whaler KATE CORY was built in Westport, Massachusetts at the shipyard of Allen and Sisson in 1856. The Corys were a prominent family in Westport and whaling was just one interest of the family patriarch, Alexander. He commissioned Allen and Sisson (the shipyard located directly behind the Cory’s store) to build a schooner for the whaling trade and it was to be named for his six year old daughter, Kate. A vessel of modest size and tonnage (seventy five feet, on deck and 132 tons),especially when compared to most whaling ships of 300 tons or more, Kate Cory was the last “large” vessel to be built at the yard. Originally rigged as a schooner, in 1858 it was decided that she should be re-rigged as a brig. The theory being that the addition of square sails would make her a more stable platform from which to ply her trade. It must have worked, because that is how she spent the rest of her brief time afloat. Kate Cory had a number of successful and largely uneventful voyages into the Atlantic and Pacific. But on April 15, 1863, she ran afoul of the Confederate raider, Alabama. She was taken, her crew removed and she was burned to the waterline. The model was built using the plans developed by Erik A. R. Ronnberg, Jr. in the early 1970’s, then curator of the New Bedford Whaling Museum. The poplar hull is planked and coppered. The spars are maple and poplar. The deck furniture and details are poplar, basswood, boxwood and pearwood. The sails are silkspan, and the rigging is linen. The paints are acrylic. The whaleboats are replicas of the Beetle built whaleboat on display in the Mariner’s Museum in Newport News, Virginia. Each of the three active boats is fully equipped. The whalecraft for each are scale reproductions of actual artifacts that were on display in the Nantucket Whaling Museum during the early 1990’s. The model is housed in a mahogany case with an MDF infield painted matte black. It is glazed with 1/8” acrylic panels. There is a bone nameplate.
Click on the photo above to view a video tour of the Whaling Brig KATE CORY.
