And the pieces would be in the form of bookends and picture frames from the far-off Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic.
It's all part of Black Rock's rich sailing history. The Cooper was a square-rigged three-masted sailing ship built in 1856 at William Hall Shipyards. Hall's house still proudly stands some 100 yards from the shipyard site at 89 Ellsworth Street sporting a National Register of Historic Places plaque.
The Cooper, 166 feet long and 977 tons, carried freight to Europe and immigrants back to the United States, usually into New York's South Street Seaport. But trying to sail around treacherous Cape Horn at the tip of South America with a load of coal in 1866 proved its undoing.
Battered by wind and waves, it sprung a leak and had to make for the nearest safe harbor, Port Stanley in the Falkland Isands, a British holding about 400 miles off Argentina.
That's where it has stayed to this day.
It was sold and abandoned in the harbor, joining some 20 other wooden ships also victims of the Horn. Like the rest of them, its masts were cut down and it became a warehouse. But after 1960, it was abandoned as a rotting hulk.
In 2003 what was left of it was removed from the harbor as a hazard to other boats. Too much of it was being dislodged by waves with the help of wood-boring teredo worms.
The Falklands
The museum is offering the rest of the smaller pieces as souvenirs to anyone who would like them. Museum Director Leona Roberts said in a recent e-mail the teredo holes make for interesting decoration.
"Our taxidermist is a skilled sculptor and has made us some beautiful souvenirs to date with a couple of trial pieces of Cooper wood," she said. "The majority of the wood is pine, we believe, although there may be chestnut in there, too."
"The picture frames are small and very sweet, I think," she added. "The face of the wood is rough from the gribble damage and it's quite effective. The bookends are wedge-shaped and quite simple, but show the large (finger-sized) teredo drills inside the wood itself."
"Anyone interested in something made from Cooper wood is more than welcome to contact us at the museum (e-mail: museum.manager@horizon.co.fk)," Roberts said. "No problem at all. It's much easier for us to commit to making items with this wood if we know that there is interest."
Prices for the handcrafted items are 60 pounds ($113) for a picture frame and 45 pounds ($85) for a set of bookends.
Proceeds benefit the museum's preservation fund. Various size pieces of Cooper wood are also for sale. Prices vary according to size.
MASTER'S STAR REGATTA — Milford Yacht Club, with one of the largest active Star fleets on the East Coast, will be host to the Mount Gay Rum Atlantic Coast Star Class Master's Championship Saturday and Sunday.
"We expect more than 30 boats from Annapolis to Boston," said John Lombard, head of Milford's 20-boat star fleet. "The helmsman must be at least 50 years of age. But the crew can be any age. The Star crew is typically a big, fit younger guy, around 220 pounds, who needs to be smart with tactics and very physical to hike the boats flat and keep the boat planing down the waves when sailing downwind."
Lombard said the Star is a demanding two-man Olympic Class keelboat — 23 feet long with a large sail plan.
"These high-performance boats are physical yet beautiful to sail," he said. "Many Star boaters go on to America's Cup competition. If you can handle a Star, you can handle an America's Cup boat."
Call Lombard at 386-9589 or visit the club's Star Web site (mycstar.org).
PUBLIC SAILING LESSONS — You don't need to join a yacht club to learn to sail. Here are three places in the region that offer sailing lessons to the public:
Sailaway, Captain's Cove Seaport, Bridgeport, 209-3407; Longshore Sailing School, Westport, 226-4646; and Sound Sailing Center, Norwalk, 838-1110.
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