IN CLIO'S CAUSE
Elissa Lengthens Her Wake by Walter P. Rybka The Villiers ideal ofth e human condition was that of a ship's crew, where everyone is needed and all hands pull together to make the voyage. That ideal lives in a special way in the Elissa restoration ofthe Galveston Historical Foundation-an 1877 bark recovered from Greece, restored and sailed today (see SH 15 and 26). Here the director of the restoration reflects on what it takes to sail the ship, and what it means to serve in her. The headsail s are being set for the last time this year, to dry out afte r last night's ra in . In the next few days most of the sail s will be unbent and sent down for the wi nter. The tarring down of rigging will resume and o ne by one the yards w ill be sent down for maintenance. The work never stops. Elissa demands over 300 hours of it each week. The staff can onl y provide a little over half of this. The rest comes from vo lunteers , some of whom are new and completel y green a nd some of whom have bee n with the ship for yea rs. This human prese nce is the life of the ship. One of the most important things to grasp about a sailing ship is that it is built upon principles o pposed to modern li ving. In today 's wo rld the emphasis in mechanical des ig n is on re moving the human eleme nt , on evolving ever mo re sophisticated tools and machines to minimize the need fo r human intervention in ma intenance o r operation . A sailing ship, on the other hand , is the stark minimum of mecha nical contrivance that o nl y works with a max imum of human effo rt. Elissa '.s mainte nance requires no sophisticated tools o r shipya rd facilities. What it requires is the constant laying on of hands. In washing decks, oiling rails, tarring rigging, touching up pai nt , sh ifting moorings, it is the frequency and constancy of the effo rt that counts. The highlight a nd focus of this effort is the annual progra m to sai l the vessel as inspiration and reward to all her people. In 1983 we decided to postpone the sails until late October. Preparation began in early summer by reinstituting the weekly sail drill s. On Friday ni ght , Saturday morning and afte rnoon, and Sunday mo rning, about 35 people spe nt two to three hours at a time loosing , setting and furlin g sa il , running from halya rds to sheets to braces. In August our routine was dramatically interrupted by Hurricane Alicia , a sto rm which gave very little notice. The night before the storm was the most grati fy ing proof of the learning that had come from the restoration , because forty concerned citizens would not have been able to do half of what was needed , but forty hands under command was a different story. Both royal yards were sent down in six hours by a crew of men and women working aloft in the dark SEA HISTORY, SUMMER 1984
under the superv ision of the staff rigger. Less than th ree years ago none of the m , including the rigger, had even been aloft. They had shown up to help clean up a mastless hulk . Being ab le to tum my back on the above left me free to see to the moorings and order the rest of the work. To best moor the ship we needed the capstans manned to warp her ahead 30feet so that two shots of the starboard bower cable could be sent dow n the adjacent wha rf to share the load over several bitts. Staff and vo lunteers kept o n worki ng through to run o ut hundreds of feet of l 1A " c hain , l "wire, and 2" nylon in all directio ns. We went aloft with long coils of light line and put nearly continuo us gaskets on everything. With the approach of darkness and the tide lapping over the pier it was time to leave her. The mid watch brought the eye of the hurricane ashore on Galveston Island with it winds up to 115 mph that made the floors flex in our fo ur-story brick building. Next morning we fou nd Elissa riding gentl y to the wind and swell. The wind laden with salt and sand had peeled va rnish and paint , and much of the running rigging had chafed itself hoary and old in that single night , but not a line parted anywhere. In the weeks that followed the normal routine was gradually resumed and the sail handling drills were intensified . On October 13 Elissa was towed the 46 mi les of the ship channel to Housto n. As the little ba rk came up the winding channel with a tug alo ngside she was saluted by long blasts and dipping ensigns from ship after ship, her g iant successors in the cargo trades. They were saluting a vessel that was corning in from a far longer voyage than any of them wi ll ever make . The Houston trip was a success , a n exhausting round of ship's work, public tours, private parties and receptio ns, and sail drills, with no e nd to the last minute details that accumulate around departures. On the morning of October 24, the tug came alongside again to take Elissa down to the sea. Captain Carl Bowman had joined again , as he had in he r previous outings unde r sail (see SH 26) . The idea of doing this year's series of daysails from an anchorage rather than the pier was initially conceived ofas a way to minimize the risk of damage to the ship. I also wanted to have the chance to work the groundtackle as an important part of the ship's gear that had never been really tested . The tow lasted till afte r dark and with her o il sidelights burning Elissa was nudged into the anchorage. It was a quiet thrill to hea r "let go" come booming up from aft followed by the sharp tunk of the carpenter's sledge and the thun derous rumbl e of the chain . " Three a nd a half shackles to the water's edge, sir."
October Tl was the 106th anniversary of Elissa '.s launching a nd even before the launches brought the guests aboard for the sa il the wind lass was manned and we hove short the cable. Six hands on the brakes and all verses of " Rio Grande," were just suffi cie nt to bring in a full shot of chain . With rest breaks and rotation of c rew the anchor was we ighed in less tha n an hour. The first two days of sa iling were a tow to a few miles offsho re, then sailing close hauled down the island in a IO kt breeze that had her gliding along at about 5 knots. After lunch the ship was put about and sailed back fu ll and by. '~ .. afar longer voyage than any of them will ever make."
Saturday the 29th brought 18-20 kt winds. It was a wonde rful feeling to see her with a real slant to he r decks, and a real pull on her lines. After mo nths of bei ng chased around the braces in drills the crew had complai ned about the leisurely manuevering of the last two sail s. Captain Bowma n obliged by putting he r and us through six tacks in an ho ur and a half. We lea rned a lot. It was more wind tha n we had sailed in last yea r (a nd remembe r that for all practical purposes this is a new ship six days out of the builder's ya rd). That day the breeze held all afternoon a nd Captain Bowman was able to sail he r all the way up to her anchorage. It was trul y satisfying to hea r the c hain run with no diesel in th e background. Sunday the 30th was o ur last sail on a chill gray day with the same 20 kt wind a nd a good deal more of a swell that had built up overnight. T hat day saw the decks wet with spray as she made 8.5 kts close hauled with a white roll of rushing wate r curling off he r stem as it gentl y rose and fell a fa th om or so to each swell .
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As of this writing the possibility is being pursued of havi ng Elissa sail to New Orleans next spring for the World 's Fair to be held there. This wi ll provide the challe nge of getting the ship and her crew ready for an offs hore passage of several days. This year's sai ls represented the first step in a gentle weaning away from the land . The routines of standing watches, cooking meals, trimming the la mps, ma nning the windlass have brought all concerned that much farther alo ng as the ship's company. J,
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Mr. Rybka, Restoration Director for the Elissa, is co-manager of White Elephant Management, which directs planning and funding efforts and restores ships: 2104 Strand, PO 1049, Galveston TX 77553. 7