Elissa Sails! by Alix Hornblower In June 1985 ; the Art Museum of South Texas in Corpus Christi was looking for an exciting way to embellish their' ' Art and the Sea" fundraising gala. J. M. Smith, the museum's chairman, approached the Galveston Historical Society to see if it was possible to have Elissa sail to Corpus Christi and tie up at the city barge dock adjacent to the museum . Sailors at the museum got wind of the project , and seeing an opportunity to advance the cause of maritime preservation and sail training, formed a committee to work out the details for welcoming Elissa to the city. Elissa had been sailing out of Galveston for three years on day trips , but this would be her first opportunity to sail offshore. For this, extensive preparations were necessary, including new sails , repairs to the rigging, new hatch covers and the installation of Loran , radar and other navigational equipment. As the passage was scheduled for early November, this work had to be completed during the autumnal hurricane season. To ensure the best possible docent program for Elissa visitors in Corpus Christi, a group of fifteen volunteers was sent to Galveston to be trained as guides. These in turn trained a larger group back in Corpus, so when Elissa arrived there were more than I 00 people to lead tours around the ship. A smaller group of volunteers, all with a serious sailing background, signed up for a sail-training program to be taught by the ship's crew. They met with Walter Rybka for an intensive session on Elissa's rigging , square-rigger terminology and basic maneuvers such as wearing ship and tacking. As texts, the trainees were issued copies of Eagle Seamanship (used by cadets aboard
the USCG bark , Eagle) and a copy of Elissa's pinrail diagram . Elissa sailed from Galveston on November 5, with a crew of thirty-five volunteers from Galveston-men and women of all ages who had given of their time and caring as carpenters, riggers, craftsmen or as unskilled laborers. After years of sail training and work their dreams were being realized in an opportunity to sai l for three days and nights in the ship they had helped rebuild . For the voyage down the coast, the weather held hot and sunny . The accompanying tug, Sheila K . Barrois (Elissa had no motive power but the wind, then) retreated to an inconspicuous spot well astern and soon Elissa was out in the deepening waters of the Gulf of Mexico, leaving behind the coast and the oi l rigs that extend some twenty or thirty miles offshore. Aboard Elissa, the crew held emergency drills-man overboard, fire in the rigging, medical emergency and kept busy scrubbing and polishing . The morning of Elissa's arrival off Port Aransas brought a cool gray sky. By midmorning, a fleet of vessels , including tiny motorboats, tourist fishing boats and curious shrimpers, had gathered around Elissa. A pilot boat came alongside and not one but six pilots transferred to Elissa, most with their wives. Few of the experienced pilots could resist the chance to sail in Elissa. By noon , the day was clear and the winds dead astern at I 0-15 knots. Elissa headed for the jetties where, according to the pre-arranged plans , she was to tie up to board sixty-five guests from Corpus Christi. But Captain Jay Bolton and the pilots decided to keep sai ling as long as possible . Instead , they clewed up the courses and transferred all the guests and refreshments from shore via the pilot boat while Elissa sailed down the eighteen mile ship channel under her own power, the wind. As she entered Corpus Christi Bay proper , most of the enormous spectator fleet dropped astern, unable to keep pace . The city of Corpus Christi was now clearly visible, and one could see along the waterfront cars stopping and their passengers gathering along the seawall to watch the arrival of this beautiful square-rigger-the first to enter their port since the visit of the USS Constitution in the 1930s . During her stay in Corpus Christi, Elissa drew enormous crowds . Dockside sail trainees came aboard at 7 AM to set the sails. School tours , paid for by the local merchants, started at 9AM and ran until noon, when the gates were opened for general admission, which lasted until six o'clock. In eight days , more than 20,000 people toured the ship. Sail trainees returned for an evening session, which included furling the sails, and at seven o'clock private parties took place on deck and in an adjoining tent. From the thirty-five volunteers who took part in the sailtraining drills the crew planned to choose ten for a day cruise out of Port Aransas . They arrived eagerly the first morning, pinrail diagrams in hand , and by noon many of them had climbed to the royal yards. The mates soon disabused them of the notion that daring acts aloft would win them approval: knowing one's way in the rigging , knowing the pinrail , being able to anticipate the sequence of orders and working as part of a team were by far the more important skills. On November 17, in a quiet gray fog, Elissa was eased away from her berth for the tow to Port Aransas, where she took on passengers for a daysail. The day turned fair and sunny with an easy wind of 10-15 knots . Soon she was under way again , outside the jetties with sails set. Elissa tacked often to show her skills, and the crew even managed a boxhaul , a maneuver during which the fore yards are kept aback, the ship gains sternway and eventually wears ship, ending up on the opposite tack without having lost much ground to leeward . SEA HISTORY , SUMMER 1986