Tall Ships: A Bit of Reminiscing … a Bit from Today in Galveston

Thursday, 5 April 2018
Advanced RV Resort — Pearland / Houston, Texas
Temps: Hi 75F (24C) / Lo 56F (13C)

We stepped back into 19th and 20th century sailing history today.  But before I tell that story, allow me to step back to more recent history and reminisce a bit.

Back in November 2008, we went to Chestertown, Maryland … a quickie weekend trip.  We were lured there by unseasonably warm temperatures — more spring-like than nearly-winter — and tasty crab cakes.  Our plan was to spend a day at the Eastern Neck National Wildlife Refuge.  Well, we did check out the refuge when we arrived and enjoyed sunset from there.  But our plans for the next day changed when we saw the tall ships at the Chestertown Marina.  Turns out Sultana, which is home-ported there, was being joined by other tall ships for a few days — Kalmar Nickel and Maryland Dove amongst them.

Kalmar Nyckel and the masts of the other visiting tall ships in Chestertown.

What a great coincidence — and one not to be missed since we had seen some of these ships at Solomons Island a few months earlier.  We’d toured one — the Maryland Dove — and wandered around others.  But we had not set sail on such a vessel.  (Photos from that day are in this online gallery.)

Bowsprit of the Maryland Dove & Our Lady Star of the Sea Church — Solomons Island.

Anyway, we scrapped the NWR and instead snagged a couple of tickets on the schooner Virginia for a lovely sail on the Chester River … in the company of ships with names like Lady Maryland, Kalmar Nyckel, AJ Meerwald, and Amistad.  It turned out to be an incredibly delightful time on the water.  (Photos from that day are in this online gallery.)

On the Virginia … leaving our berth for a cruise on the Chester River …
With a small flotilla of tall ships following in our wake.

There were a few other occasions when we crossed paths with tall ships, but I don’t recollect the specifics off hand.  It doesn’t matter really.  What does is that when we heard the tall ships were coming to Galveston this weekend, we decided to drive down for a look see.

OK … moving on to today’s story.

We set off mid-morning to make the 45-mile (70+ km) drive to Galveston.  Traffic was light and we arrived shortly after 11:00a.  Since we’d already been up close and personal with tall ships — and had already explored Galveston’s own Elissa — our plan for today was to simply enjoy the arrival of the ships …  scheduled for between 1:00-3:00p according to the website.

Elissa’s wheel and the wheelbox that houses the steering gear.
(Other photos of Elissa start with this image in the online gallery.)

After looking at the map, we figured the waterfront at US Coast Guard Station Galveston would be perfect … and not crowded.  Best laid plans and all that … the ships, we were told by a couple of Coasties, had gone through the channel already!  That didn’t make sense so we called the Texas Seaport Museum.  The woman I spoke with confirmed that the ships were already out in the Gulf of Mexico.  Yes, they would be back through the channel around 4:00-5:00p, but they would not be under sail … they’d be motoring back to their berths.  She also told us that we could see the ships from anywhere between East Beach and the Pleasure Pier.

OK … so how can the ships be “arriving” if they had to sail though the channel to get to the Gulf?  Whatever!  It was a nice day and spending a couple of hours on the beach wouldn’t be a bad thing.  We had our food.  We had our chairs.  We had hats to protect us from the sun and windbreaks to protect us from the wind.  So, we turned the car around and went to the beach that fronts the Galveston seawall.  We snagged one of the on-street parking spots, downloaded the pay-by-phone app, and paid the $1/hour parking fee for the next three hours.  At least they aren’t hosing people for parking here like they do in some beach towns.  By this time it was just past noon … we were set to enjoy beach-time and watch for the arrival (!?!) of the ships.

I was surprised at how few people there were on the beach and on the seawall.  The numbers increased later in the afternoon, so maybe the lack of crowds was because it was a workday … but hey … no complaints from our perspective.  We could have just unfolded our chairs by the car, but we figured our viewing would be improved by proximity to the water.  The ships were a considerable distance offshore so every feet gained by getting closer to the water was a bonus.  We made ourselves comfortable at the water’s edge, broke open our snack bag and had lunch … bird and people watching until the ships got closer for the parade.

Settled into our chairs on Stewart Beach, we await the arrival of the tall ships …

… along with a trio of laughing gulls that share our interest ;-)

Well, the ships never did get too close to shore — shallow waters and all that.  And the marine haze in the distance — and the direction of the sun for that matter — didn’t make for great photography conditions.  Nonetheless, we enjoyed ourselves.  There was plenty of wind for the tall ships to unfurl their sails and the water had enough chop to make the viewing rather authentic.

Oosterschelde (left) and Galveston’s Own Elissa sailing in the Gulf of Mexico.

By 2:00p all six ships had sailed past us … a myriad of other vessels as well.

• US-flagged Elissa: oldest with a build date of 1877 … a survivor … rescued from a scrap yard in Piraeus, Greece … restored and home-ported in Galveston.

• US-flagged Lynx: 2001 build … replica of the Privateer Lynx, which saw action in the War of 1812.

• US-flagged Oliver Hazard Perry: 2015 build … first ocean-going full-rigged ship to be built in the US in over 100 years.

• US-flagged When and If: 1939 build … General Patton’s schooner … commissioned by him with the thinking that “When the war is over, and if I live through it, Bea and I are going to sail her around the world.”  Alas, he did not realize that dream.

• Dutch-flagged Oosterschelde: 1918 build … the only remaining representative of a large fleet of topsail schooners that used to sail under the Dutch flag at the beginning of the previous century.

• New Zealand-flagged Picton Castle: 1928 build … her mission is deep-ocean sail training and long-distance education.

Of these, Oosterschelde came closest to the shoreline, so my best photo ops were of this vessel.  I never did get a decent look at the Picton Castle, or decent photos of any of the US-flagged vessels.

Oosterschelde (top left and right, bottom right and in the bottom left …
with Elissa); Lynx (center right); and Oliver Hazard Perry (bottom center).

The vessels were treading water near the Historic Pleasure Pier.  We needed to get some exercise steps in, so we collected our paraphernalia, put them in the car, and set off along the seawall for a stroll in that direction.  The pier is an old-fashioned waterfront amusement park.  It would probably be better to describe it as the “new” Historic Pleasure Pier as it was opened in 2012.  The property replaced a previous one that stood here between 1943-1961 … until it was destroyed by Hurricane Carla.

Daguerreotype post-processing seems appropriate for the Historic Pleasure Pier.

We didn’t have any interest in the rides, but were hoping we’d be able to walk to the end of the pier at least.  No can do … have to pay admission first.  In our case, the place wasn’t due to open for a couple of hours so it was all locked-up anyway.  No matter, we got our steps in.

The painted mosaic benches on the seawall are part of what’s described as the
Seawall Interpretive Trail Public Art.  Beautiful and educational at the same time.

By the time we received the text from the pay-by-phone app that our parking time was up, we were already on our way home … ahead of the forecasted thunderstorms for Galveston Island.  We — that is the CR-V — got wet as a brief shower passed over us, but that was the extent of our adverse weather.  Traffic was a bit heavier than this morning — with spurts of stop-and-go.  Nothing to hinder us from getting home by 4:00p.

All in all, our day wasn’t quite what we expected it to be.  But, we had a good time and got a whiff of beach air while we were at it.  Now to gear up for a storm that is expected in the wee hours of tomorrow … with a 30-40 degree drop in the air temperature in its aftermath.

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