{"id":277401,"date":"2026-06-25T02:15:29","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T02:15:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/277401\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T02:15:29","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T02:15:29","slug":"what-life-is-like-on-the-historic-elissa-ship-during-its-voyage-from-galveston-to-new-york-houston-public-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/277401\/","title":{"rendered":"What life is like on the historic Elissa ship during its voyage from Galveston to New York \u2013 Houston Public Media"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\"Tall<\/p>\n

Provided by Ryan Bradfield<\/p>\n

Crew members steer the \u201ctall ship\u201d Elissa as they make their way to New York City for the Fourth of July.<\/p>\n

In the words of the 1877 “tall ship” Elissa’s port captain, Ryan Bradfield, “There\u2019s a lot that\u2019s unique about life on the ship.” <\/p>\n

Crew members have been aboard the historic Elissa ship since it set sail<\/a> out of the Port of Galveston on June 8. The Elissa is on its way to New York City for the Fourth of July holiday as part of Sail250<\/a>, a global gathering of tall ships and military ships to celebrate the United States\u2019 250th anniversary. <\/p>\n

The Elissa recently made a stop in Cambridge, Maryland, on its way to New York and is back on the water. Reesa Bradfield, who is Ryan\u2019s wife and a volunteer deck hand, gave Houston Public Media an inside look at a typical day aboard the ship as a crew member. <\/p>\n

Sign up for the Hello, Houston!<\/a> daily newsletter to get local reports like this delivered directly to your inbox.<\/p>\n

4-8 a.m.<\/p>\n

\"Tall<\/p>\n

Provided by Ryan Bradfield<\/p>\n

Sun shines through the \u201ctall ship\u201d Elissa on her voyage to New York City.<\/p>\n

Reesa is on watch for four hours. This is one of her two four-hour shifts during the day.<\/p>\n

“It could be maintenance, it could be galley duty, helping in the rigging, setting sales, dousing sales, whatever the ship needs while I\u2019m on watch on that four hours,” Reesa said.<\/p>\n

8 a.m.-4 p.m.<\/p>\n

After her first watch, Reesa has eight hours to herself. She can use the time to do things such as rest, take a shower, read or eat breakfast cooked by the principal and assistant cooks on the ship.<\/p>\n

The cooks make breakfast, lunch, dinner as well as “mid-rations” for those who are on watch at night. The ship’s mid-rations are typically a “sweet treat” such as cookies or brownies, according to Ryan. Main meals on the menu can include everything from shrimp Alfredo to Thai food.<\/p>\n

“We’re eating very, very well,” Ryan said.<\/p>\n

\"Tall<\/p>\n

Provided by Ryan Bradfield<\/p>\n

A crew member lays in a small inflatable pool aboard the \u201ctall ship\u201d Elissa.<\/p>\n

In terms of other leisure activities, Ryan and Reesa said some crew members like to knit, while others keep journals or play guitar. The crew also has a small inflatable swimming pool on the deck for relaxation purposes.<\/p>\n

4-8 p.m.<\/p>\n

Reesa is on watch again.<\/p>\n

\"Reesa<\/a><\/p>\n

Provided by Ryan Bradfield<\/p>\n

Reesa Bradfield, left, and her husband, Ryan Bradfield, take a selfie photo aboard the 1877 Elissa.<\/p>\n

8 p.m.-4 a.m.<\/p>\n

Reesa has another opportunity to rest. She also has the opportunity to shower, which is done a little differently on the ship. The crew members are asked to take “Navy showers” in order to save the desalinated water on the ship.<\/p>\n

“A Navy shower is you turn the shower on, you get yourself wet, turn it off, soap up and then you turn the water back on for a few seconds to rinse off. That\u2019s pretty much it. Try to keep it under two minutes,” Ryan said.<\/p>\n

Ryan said after their stop in Maryland, they\u2019ll be traveling up to the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal and then onward to New York.<\/p>\n

Elissa’s journey can be tracked on the Galveston 250 website.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Provided by Ryan Bradfield Crew members steer the \u201ctall ship\u201d Elissa as they make their way to New…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":277402,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[55289,33453,40550,55287,610,531,9,24,55,54,12,56,106631,106632],"class_list":["post-277401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-1877-tall-ship-elissa","tag-america-250","tag-fourth-of-july","tag-galveston","tag-local","tag-national","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-news","tag-ny","tag-port-of-galveston","tag-sail250"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277401"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277401\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}