{{short description|Half-scale model of the whaling ship Lagoda, located at the New Bedford Whaling Museum}} {{other uses}} {{italic title}} [[File:Half-scale model of the Lagoda (New Bedford Whaling Museum).jpg|thumb|right|300px|The ''Lagoda'' in the Bourne Building of the New Bedford Whaling Museum.]]
There is a half-scale model of the whaling ship '''''Lagoda''''' in the New Bedford Whaling Museum. The original ship was built in 1826, converted to a whaling ship in 1841, and broken up in 1899. The model, commissioned in 1916, is the world's largest ship model.
==Original ship== The original ''Lagoda'' was a merchant ship built in 1826 in the Wanton Shipyard on the North River in what is now Norwell, Massachusetts. The shipyard was owned and managed by shipbuilders Seth and Samuel Foster, and the ship was commissioned by Duxbury merchant Ezra Weston II.<ref name="Browne, p. 75">Browne, p. 75.</ref>
Originally intended to be named "''Ladoga''" after Lake Ladoga in Russia, the letters "d" and "g" were accidentally swapped and, due to superstition that correcting the name would bring bad luck, she remained the "''Lagoda''".<ref name ="WM">{{cite web|url=https://www.whalingmuseum.org/explore/exhibitions/current/lagoda|title="Lagoda"–The Largest Ship Model in Existence|website=New Bedford Whaling Museum|date=November 10, 2016|access-date=January 2, 2017|archive-date=January 3, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170103165040/https://www.whalingmuseum.org/explore/exhibitions/current/lagoda|url-status=dead}}</ref> The ship's frame was constructed of live oak,<ref name="WM"/> and she had 3 masts and weighed 340 tons.<ref>Browne, p. 130.</ref>
Weston employed the ''Lagoda'' for about seven years as a merchant vessel in trade with northern European ports. On February 25, 1833, Weston sold the ship to Boston merchant William Oliver.<ref name="Browne, p. 75"/> In 1841, she was purchased by Jonathan Bourne Jr. of New Bedford and converted to a whaling ship. The refit included the installation of a trywork, an on-board pair of trypots used to render blubber into whale oil.<ref name="WM"/><ref name="PG">{{cite web|url=http://www.post-gazette.com/life/travel/2008/05/29/Whaling-era-comes-alive-New-Bedford-is-a-novel-trip-for-Moby-Dick-fans/stories/200805290246|publisher=Pittsburgh Post Gazette|title=Whaling era comes alive: New Bedford is a novel trip for Moby-Dick fans|date=May 29, 2008|first=Bob|last=Downing|access-date=October 21, 2008}}</ref> In 1860, the ship was converted it from full-rigged ship into a bark, which allowed it to be manned with a smaller crew and to sail closer to the wind.<ref name="WM"/><ref name="PG"/>
The ''Lagoda'' was one of the few ships to escape the whaling disaster of 1871, an incident in which 40 ships whaling in the Arctic late in the season were surrounded by ice. Thirty-three of the ships were trapped or crushed, but the ''Lagoda'' was one of the 7 ships that narrowly escaped, and it carried 195 of the 1,219 survivors to safety in Honolulu, Hawaii.<ref name="WM"/><ref name="PG"/>
By the time Bourne sold the ''Lagoda'' in 1886, the ship had generated a profit of about $652,000 ({{Inflation|US|652000|1886|fmt=eq|r=-6}}).<ref name="WM"/>{{Inflation-fn|US}} In 1889, the ship left the US to work as a coal hulk in Japan, being used to fuel steamboats in Yokohama, until she was sold again and eventually broken up in 1899.<ref name="WM"/><ref name="PG"/>
==Replica== In 1915, Jonathan Bourne Jr.'s daughter Emily Bourne donated the Bourne Building to the New Bedford Whaling Museum in memory of her father. She also contributed funds to build a half-size model of the ''Lagoda'', and the museum commissioned shipwrights to build it in 1916.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.haveschoolwilltravel.com/2006/11/new-bedford-whaling-national.html|title=New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park|website=Have School, Will Travel|date=2006-11-05|accessdate=2008-10-21}}</ref> At {{convert|89|ft|m}} in length and with a mainmast of {{convert|50|ft|m}}, it is the largest ship model in the world.<ref name="WM"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=special53 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090122041445/http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=special53 |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 22, 2009 |title=Largest museum of its kind incorporates local, global history |website=SouthCoastToday.com |access-date=October 21, 2008 |first=Don |last=Cuddy }}</ref> The model is fully rigged and is outfitted with some of the supplies needed for a whaling voyage. The Bourne Building in which the model is located was renovated in 2010, and an interactive kiosk was installed to provide visitors with further information about the ship.<ref name="WM"/>
==Notes== {{reflist|30em}}
==References== * {{cite book|title=King Caesar of Duxbury: Exploring the World of Ezra Weston, Shipbuilder and Merchant|last=Browne|first=Patrick T.J. |year=2006|publisher=The Duxbury Rural and Historical Society|isbn=0-941859-10-X}}
==External links== *{{cite web | url = http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080415/NEWS/804150354 | title = Shipwright finds inspiration in museum's Lagoda | publisher = SouthCoastToday.com | accessdate = 2008-10-21 | first = Kevin P. | last = O'Connor | date = 2008-04-15}} *{{Cite book | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=X3L-D9i9BOMC&dq=lagoda+whaling&pg=PA138 | title = Curious New England | first1 = Joseph A. | last1 = Citro | first2 = Diane E. | last2 = Foulds | pages=138 |isbn=978-1-58465-359-2|publisher = UPNE | year = 2004 | accessdate = 2008-10-21}} {{1871 shipwrecks}}
Category:Whaling ships Category:Merchant ships of the United States Category:Three-masted ships Category:Coal hulks Category:1826 ships Category:New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park Category:Maritime folklore Category:Maritime incidents in 1871