FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 20, 2008
CONTACT: Molly Dannenmaier
Director of Marketing and Public Relations,
409-765-7834

Seamanship Training Onboard the Restored 1877 ELISSA, the Official Tall Ship of Texas, Begins Saturday, July 19, Free of Charge

An orientation meeting for seamanship training on the restored 1877 ELISSA, the Official Tall Ship of Texas, is scheduled for Saturday, July 19, 1:30 to 5 p.m., dockside at the Texas Seaport Museum in Galveston, at 22nd and Harborside Drive. Houston-Galveston-area residents will have the rare opportunity to learn to sail and maintain a square-rigged sailing ship this summer and fall, and to take her into the Gulf of Mexico next spring. They will learn skills and even a vocabulary passed down from the days when sailing ships filled the seas.

During the orientation, participants will get information on the Seamanship Training Program and a tour of the ship, which was restored here in 1982 and has sailed every year since then. Following a film presentation on the history of the ship and a discussion of just what is involved in joining the crew, experienced crewmembers will demonstrate maintenance projects and sail handling.

John Schaumburg, waterfront manager for the Texas Seaport Museum (TSM), said that attending the orientation does not obligate a person to join the program, which is free of charge, and stresses that ELISSA and TSM offer a variety of volunteer opportunities for those whose schedules do not permit them to complete the full seamanship training program.

ELISSA was never a pirate ship, but as a British cargo ship of the 19th century, she specialized in calling at smaller ports of the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico. She twice loaded cotton at Galveston. It was this local connection, and the authenticity of her iron hull, that led Galveston Historical Foundation to purchase the vessel, then a cut-down motorship, and undertake her restoration. Today, ELISSA is one of only three pre-20th century sailing vessels in the United States that have been restored to full sailing capacity.

“Volunteers were essential to the initial restoration,” said Schaumburg, “and they have remained essential to her continuing life over the last 25 years.”

ELISSA has been designated by the National Park Service as a National Historic Landmark. She was named the “Official Tall Ship of Texas” in a resolution signed by Governor Rick Perry in June, 2005.

ELISSA sails several times every year. Every spring, she goes out for a series of day sails over the course of a two-week period. Those who participate in the seamanship training program, which includes maintenance tasks such as chipping rust, painting and tarring the rig, have the opportunity to learn ancient skills and techniques. After completing the classes, which take place on designated Saturdays, and contributing the required hours of work on the ship’s upkeep, participants are eligible to take ELISSA to sea.

Volunteers who are able may learn to climb ELISSA’s rigging to set and furl sails and maintain the intricate machinery of wood, wire and rope. These tasks require skill and bravery, as the ship’s main mast towers 99 feet above deck.

“Our seamanship program is the only one of its kind in the United States,” says Schaumburg. “It is the only program in which an all-volunteer crew is fully prepared and given the opportunity to operate the ship.”

For more information on joining the volunteer crew of ELISSA, contact the Texas Seaport Museum at 409-763-1877.