Now moored at Brooklyn Bridge Marina, Elissa arrived in New York Harbor Wednesday morning.
Galveston Historical Foundation
Essential to Galveston’s visual profile, the tall ship Elissa is proving to be a surprising, even shocking sight for some East Coast residents. Since departing the island on June 8 for this weekend’s Sail250 celebration in New York Harbor, the iconic ship’s crew has been getting accustomed to reactions like the one they received in Fort Pierce, Fla., in the early hours of June 14.
The ship’s captain, Andrew Ellers, captured the moment in his online journal.
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“As dawn broke, more than a couple of people noticed that they suddenly had a square-rigger in Fort Pierce Harbor!” Ellers wrote. “Elissa has, as always, turned some heads. People are trying to get as close as possible to see the ship, with amazed questions of ‘Where did THAT come from?’ [and] ‘What ship is that?'”
For Will Wright, who recently took over as Galveston Historical Foundation’s interim executive director, Elissa’s voyage offers residents of far-flung U.S. locales the chance to experience “the influence [and] impact that Elissa can have on people,” he told Chron Thursday.
Elissa will participate in several events in New York, including a $1,000-per-ticket Stars and Sails July Fourth party and Sail250 America’s parade of sail.
Galveston Historical Foundation
Built in 1877, the ship was procured by GHF in 1975 and brought over from Greece in the late ’70s. It reopened to the public on July 4, 1982 and has been among the island’s top tourist attractions ever since. Several weeks were required to make Elissa seaworthy for this journey, its longest since a similar trip for the Statue of Liberty’s centennial in 1986.
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“It’s a unique thing to see; there aren’t many ships like this that are out there doing what we’re doing,” Wright said Thursday from aboard the ship. “Specifically with Elissa, there are just a couple of ships of this age that are doing it, so people can recognize that. Whether they’re steeped in boat and sail history or not, they can see that it’s something special.”
Aided by largely agreeable weather, the crew’s morale has been “really great,” Wright said. He added that Ellers and assorted crew members have a “surprise hit” on their hands with their daily online updates, available on the foundation’s and Galveston 250’s Facebook pages. (Galveston 250, by the way, is GHF’s specially created website commemorating Elissa’s historic voyage.)
Here, readers are privy to all sorts of Elissa-related trivia: a detailed description of the ship’s galley, for example, or Ellers’ explanation of why its brand-new diesel engine needed an oil change after only 100 miles of sailing. Other entries are more poetic, including Ellers’ account of nearly four days and 700 blissful miles under “pure sail” in the Atlantic, or a “front-row seat to the launch of a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral,” as reported by crew member James Thayer.
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Helm’s-eye view of Lower Manhattan
Galveston Historical Foundation
The ship also passed within a whisker of Kitty Hawk, N.C., where in 1903 the Wright Brothers made the first successful manned flight in history—”at which point Elissa had already been sailing for 26 years!” Ellers marveled. Not long after, the ship entered Chesapeake Bay and moored for two days of public tours in Cambridge, Md., a small city on the Choptank River.
“One of the things that is extra-special about coming into these small ports is that, sometimes, better than PR releases or social media posts is simply catching people’s attention with our towering, square-rigged masts suddenly appearing on their waterfront,” Ellers wrote.
Wednesday, after more than three weeks at sea, Elissa moored at the Brooklyn Bridge Marina to prepare for Saturday’s Sail250 parade in New York Harbor. It will have the honor of leading the Class A tall ships in the procession and remain in New York through July 7, hosting free deck tours (online registration required) and other events such as a sunset sail and a $1,000-per-ticket Independence Day party from “right under the fireworks, literally,” Wright said.
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Elissa left the Galveston Ship Channel on June 8, nearly 2,300 nautical miles ago, and is tentatively scheduled to return home around Aug. 15.
Galveston Historical Foundation
Since leaving Galveston, Elissa has traveled nearly 2,300 nautical miles. The gravity of this moment is not lost on Wright, who wouldn’t let it pass without saluting the countless GHF donors and volunteers who brought the ship almost literally back from the dead nearly 50 years ago and continue to maintain a vital piece of Galveston’s maritime heritage.
“Elissa is a National Historic Landmark; it’s a rarity,” he said. “And so for the ship to be able to do this [voyage] really showcases the work that has been put in by the foundation and by supporters and crew for decades. So it’s really a celebration on that front of everyone who’s had a piece of that story, from finding the ship to where the ship is now.”
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After leaving New York, Elissa will head to Boston July 11-15, then return to Galveston via Savannah, Ga., and Pensacola, Fla. Details are scarce this far out, but Wright promised GHF is planning a suitably gangbusters celebration for the ship’s homecoming, tentatively scheduled for Aug. 15.
“People all over the United States are getting to see Elissa,” he said, “and it’s gonna be nice to come back and let the community experience some of that as well.”