For all its longtime and iconic status as an attraction at Mystic Seaport, there is a lot of little-known history and minutiae about The Charles W. Morgan, America's last wooden whaleship.

It was that sort of curiosity that led Connecticut filmmaker Bailey Pryor to invest almost five years in making a documentary for PBS about the ship. Titled "The Charles W. Morgan," the one-hour film will have its premiere on May 4 at the Garde Arts Center in New London.

"I grew up in Mystic and live near the Seaport," Pryor said by phone on Thursday. "I look at the Morgan every day and have done so for a very long time. People around here have always thought of it as a sort of time machine in the sense that you climb onboard and it just takes you back to another era. It fascinates me - and when the Seaport announced they were going to renovate the ship and it would sail again, I became obsessed with making a film about it."

The timing of the premiere is ideal. After a five-year, $7.5-million restoration project at the Seaport, the Morgan will set sail from the museum on May 17 and travel to New London - the first stop on a voyage that will visit spots in New England throughout the summer. From 1841 to 1921, the Morgan made 37 whaling voyages, then landed permanently at the Seaport in 1941.

"Once I started investigating the history of the Morgan and the whaling industry in that era, it made sense to devote an entire documentary to the subject," said Pryor, a five-time Emmy winner. "There's just a whole lot about the history of the ship that people don't know."

Pryor counts himself as one of those who had a lot to learn.

"I absolutely got educated as we went through the project," he said. "One thing that surprised me a great deal when we started -and not much at all at the end - was the passion people have for this vessel. We were hanging out with gentlemen at the shipyard who were devoting a huge portion of their careers to renovate the Morgan. Years. They're very dedicated - and I learned that there's always been that same attitude and devotion throughout her history."

"The Charles W. Morgan" follows the story of the ship from her beginnings in New Bedford, Mass., through an incredible history in the hugely profitable whaling industry. The ship survived freeze-ups in the Arctic, onboard fires, attacks by headhunters in the South Seas, and many other adventures.

"It was a very tough and remarkable job at a time when the pursuit of any income was very difficult," Pryor said. "A lot of people would go out on whaling vessels and never made any money because of the charges you incurred along the way. You could go out for four years and essentially make very little."

Pryor said he was also astonished to learn that the 19th-century whaling industry and the great wooden whaling ships had little to do with depleting the global supply of the mammals.

"It wasn't until the 20th century when high-speed vessels and explosive harpoons and significant changes in technology caused major depletion," he said.

Following the Garde screening, Pryor will participate in a panel discussion with the film's executive producer, Steve Jones; Mystic Seaport director Quentin Snediker, who oversaw the Morgan's restoration; and official Morgan historian Matthew Stackpole.

On May 12, the film will receive its broadcast premiere on CPTV at 10 p.m., after which it will be aired on PBS affiliates across the country.

"It's a really interesting story of American history portrayed in a very different light than you might think," Pryor said. "I was fortunate to learn the full history of the Morgan, and it's fascinating to help portray that to a larger audience. I hope we'll give people a greater understanding of the people who constructed her, operated her, and restored her."

r.koster@theday.com