Elissa (ship)
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The tall ship Elissa is a sailing ship originally launched on October 27, 1877. This iron-hulled, three-masted barque, currently moored in Galveston, Texas, is one of the oldest ships still sailing.
The Elissa was built in Aberdeen, Scotland as a merchant vessel in the time when the use of steamships was overtaking sailing ships. The ship survived numerous ownership changes, renamings and modifications, including the installation of an engine and the incremental removal of all her rigging and masts. According to the descendants of Henry Fowler Watt, the Elissa's builder, her name was taken from the epic poem The Aeneid, in which a Phoenician princess named Elissa (better known today as Dido) becomes Queen of Carthage.
Elissa has also sailed under Norwegian and Swedish flag. In Norway she was known as the Fjeld of Tønsberg and her master was Captain Herman Andersen. In Sweden her name was Gustav of Gothenburg.
The Elissa was rescued from destruction by ship preservationists who found her languishing in a salvage yard in Piraeus, Greece. In 1975, she was purchased for $40,000 by the Galveston Historical Foundation, her current owners, who began the process of restoration and repair. In 1979, after a year of repairs to her hull in Greece, the Elissa was towed to Galveston, where the restoration process continued.
The Elissa made her first voyage as a restored sailing ship in 1985, traveling to Corpus Christi, Texas. A year later, she sailed to New York City to take part in the Statue of Liberty's centennial celebrations.
When not sailing, the Elissa remains moored at the Texas Seaport Museum in Galveston. Public tours are available year-round when the Elissa is docked. The ship is sailed and maintained by qualified volunteers, who come from various areas of East Texas.
[edit] Honors
- National Register of Historic Places - first object granted this status while outside United States territory
- National Historic Landmark
- Designated one of "America's Treasures" by the National Trust for Historic Preservation
- Escorted the Texas (SSN-775) into Galveston harbor to be comemorated
[edit] Specifications
- Length at waterline - 141 ft.
- Beam - 28 ft.
- Displacement - 620 tons.
- Cargo capacity - 430 tons.
- Draft - 10 ft. 6 in.
- Miles of line- 4.5.
- The pin rail and bright work is made of Teak.
- The masts(3) are made from whole Douglass Fir from Oregon.
- Sails (made in Maine)- 19.
