March 2003 saw Sue and Terry board and sail on the 19th century tall ship Elissa. This is an extraordinary event. The Elissa is the ONLY sailing tall ship in the United States. Built in 1877 as a merchant vessel, the Elissa serviced Galveston as well as other ports during her time on the seas.
The ship was discovered in Greece as surplus last century and brought to Galveston for restoration. Unlike all of the other ship restorations that have gone on, the Elissa was brought all the way back to sailing condition! In order to maintain this, the ship must be sailed at least once a year to determine her seaworthiness.
Under sail in the Gulf of Mexico
In 1976, she sailed to New York City to participate in the tall ship parade at the Statue of Liberty. Since then, she has resided at dock in Galveston, maintained by the Galveston Historical Society and the Galveston Sea Museum. This year, a couple of positions opened up for the opportunity to sail on the vessel, and Sue and Terry were lucky enough to fall into them.
The cruise lasted 6 hours. Most of it was under sail power alone. The crew practiced several tacking maneuvers, including box hauling to negotiate a tight turn in a limited area. We were treated to dolphins who swam across our bow and to lots of huge pelicans that were feeding on our route. Please enjoy the photo essay that follows!
Letting the wind do its job!
The Elissa features 19 sails comprising 11,500 sq. ft. of cloth. One of the mainsails alone boasts 44 horse power. The ship moves along at quite a nice little clip with just a moderate amount of wind. The sails take a huge amount of work. Just memorizing the miles of rigging requires special training. The crew for this cruise practiced for 13 weeks before taking her out to sea.
With everything done as a 19th century vessel, this is as authentic as it gets. (well there was peanut butter and jelly for lunch...)
