MYSTIC, Conn. (AP) – Centuries-old oak trees felled or damaged by back-to-back hurricanes in Florida last fall will literally help to keep a historic Connecticut whaling ship afloat.

Several of those trees have already been delivered to the Mystic Seaport and more are one the way. They will be used to help restore the hull of the 164-year-old Charles W. Morgan whaling ship. A symbol of the Seaport, the Morgan attracts thousands of visitors a year and has been designated a national historic landmark.

The museum shipyard could use other types of wood, such as fir, but shipyard director Quentin Snediker said the Seaport is committed to using only the kind of wood found on the original boat, such as white oak, live oak and yellow pine. Live oak was especially popular because of its high density.

“It’s a national historic landmark vessel so we have an obligation to be as authentic as possible and maintain it’s historic integrity,” he said.

Diane Barile, of Melbourne, Fla., is among the property owners who contacted the Seaport. She said she was near tears when contractors had to cut down a massive 300-year-old oak in her yard a few months ago. The hurricanes had caused the tree to push up a sidewalk and an inspector discovered it was rotting from the inside. To protect her home, she had to have the 60-foot-tall tree cut down.

“As I watched them take it down, I said, What a waste. They’re just going to take it to the dump,’ ” she recalled.

But then she remembered that in the 18th and 19th centuries, shipbuilders from New England would go to the South to find the oak trees they needed to build boats.

She also remembered from her visit to Mystic Seaport a decade ago that the shipyard there might be interested in her tree, so she contacted Snediker.

She learned the Seaport was in the process of trying to find about 200 large trees needed to replace about 15 percent of the Morgan, the only surviving wooden whaling ship.

Snediker was interested but said he would need about 20 tons of oak from her area to justify the expense of trucking the wood to Connecticut. After a Florida newspaper published a story about Barile’s tree, 95 people came forward to offer fallen trees.

About 40 tons of the trees already have arrived from the Pensacola area and two truckloads of Melbourne trees are scheduled to arrive at the Seaport in the next few weeks.

The $3.5 million restoration project on the 113-foot-long ship is scheduled to begin in 2006 and take about three years to complete.

Barile said she hopes to visit the Seaport to check on the restoration and see the contribution the trees in her region have made.

“Maybe they can have Brevard County Day for us at the Seaport,” she said.

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Information from: The Day, http://www.theday.com

AP-ES-02-12-05 1730EST