SAILING HISTORY - Literally!

By Capt. Curtis Collins, ASA Instructor and Instructor Evaluator

One thing that keeps me sailing is the almost unlimited opportunity to learn. My recent experiences aboard the tall ship ELISSA are a great example. I have been sailing for many years, but have never done any tall ship sailing. So, one of my personal goals last year was to gain some tall ship experience. Fortunately, I discovered a unique opportunity to do just that. This opportunity is embodied by the 1877 Iron Barque ELISSA.

ELISSA was one step away from a scrap yard in Greece when Galveston Historical Foundation acquired her in 1975 with the dream of restoring her as a Tall Ship for Texasä. It took many years, millions of dollars, and many hours of labor to bring the dream of ELLISA to life. Now she stands as an exceptional example of a historically authentic iron barque.

Many articles about tall ships focus on the majesty of these vessels under sail, which is awe inspiring; but they contain very few details of actually sailing them. What I thought would be appropriate for the newsletter of a sailing education organization like ASA, would be to discuss some of the differences that I learned while crewing on the tall ship ELISSA as compared to the boats commonly used at the ASA Affiliate Schools.

Let me give you a few statistics about ELISSA to quantify why learning to sail a traditional vessel like her is such a different challenge. She is 205 feet in length overall, weighs over 600 tons, has three masts, 19 sails, and approximately 183 control lines. She is usually sailed by a crew of 34 to 45 and it takes all of them working in close coordination to handle her under sail. Obviously she is very different than the modern vessels most of us are accustomed to sailing.

The most obviously dramatic difference is the sail plan. A modern sloop rigged vessel is relatively simple: one mast, two sails, and only about half a dozen lines are fundamentally necessary to sail the vessel. By contrast ELISSA has three masts: the fore, main and mizzen. These masts are arranged from fore to aft on the vessel, respectively. What makes a barque a barque is the fact it carries square sails on all masts except the mizzen which carries only fore and aft rigged sails. In addition, ELISSA carries an Outer Jib, Inner Jib, and 5 Staysails. Two of these Staysails are rigged on the Mizzen Mast, two on the Mainmast, and one on the Foremast.

The upper edge of the square sails are rigged to yardsä which are set perpendicular to the masts. ELISSA's main and fore masts each carry 5 square sails. From top to bottom these sails are the:

Royal
Topgallant
Upper Topsail
Lower Topsail
Course

The Mizzen Mast carries the Spanker. The Spanker and Staysails are fore and aftä rigged sails that are more similar to our modern triangular sails in that their leading edge is attached to a mast or stay. Above the Spanker is the Gaff Topsail.

To tack a modern sloop rigged vessel only takes two commands. By contrast, to tack ELISSA takes about 15 commands! These commands are executed by a crew of approximately 34.

1. Stand by to come about
2. Helm a'leeä
3. Spanker amidshipsä
4. Ease headsail sheetsä
5. Rise tacks and sheets on the Foreä
6. Rise tacks and sheets on the Mainä
7. Back the headsailsä
8. Mainsail haulä
9. Slack away the spanker sheetä
10. Shift the headsail sheetsä
11. Shift the staysail sheetsä
12. Let go and haulä
13. Rudder amidshipsä
14. Set the Mainsailä
15. Helm full and byä
16. Set the foresailä

To coordinate details of this effort requires a clear chain of command that starts with the Captain. It is typically the Captain who is issuing these orders. Seeing these orders are properly executed is the responsibility of the Mast Captainsä. Each mast has its own Mast Captain. These Mast Captains have crew members assigned to them and it's the crew that hauls on the lines to actually make things move.

Given my background I thought I would have a huge head start learning to sail a tall ship. I am an ASA Instructor and a USCG licensed Captain. I have thousands of days on the water on many different types of boats. I thought all that training time must be for those other folks who don't know how to sail. Boy was I wrong! Shortly after stepping aboard ELISSA I felt like a complete novice. Now, after 8 months of training, I am just beginning to respond to the commands without total befuddlement.

ELISSA's unique sail training program helps to keep her and the skills of traditional sailing alive. If you are interested in learning more about this program, I encourage you to visit the web site of the Texas Seaport Museum (TSM) at www.tsm-elissa.org.

Photos: The 1877 Iron Barque ELISSA

All articles are copyrighted by the American Sailing Association