OPERATION SAIL 1992:
Hail the Juan Sebastian de Elcano by Frank 0. Braynard
The Juan Sebastian de Elcano in the spring of 1986.
From now through 1992, each issue of Sea History will look at a sail training ship of a different nation, so that when the world's fleet of tall ships gathers in Operation Sail 1992, we may all know a little more about these ships and the real work they do in the world. The frigate Esperanza was designated a sail training ship in 1862-thefirst in the Spanish Navy, which had hitherto trained its cadets in small groups dispersed among the ships of the sailing navy, which by the 1860s was on its way out. Farsighted naval administrators realized even then that training under sail offered priceless character-building experience. As NMHS Advisory Chairman Frank Braynard points out in his appreciation of the big topsail schooner, the traditions of sail cherished aboard the Elcano are not passive; they have been exercised in all weathers, infarcorners ofthe ocean in her worldwide sailing over the past 62 years. The Juan Sebastian de Elcano has everything! She is one of the most beautiful of the world's major tall ships, she is close to the largest, one of the oldest, clearly one of if not the most famous, and probably the best used-sailing almost continuously, year round! I have known her intimately for thirty years, sketched her many times, helped dock and "undock" her at New York aboard Moran tugs, and welcomed her to the three Operation Sail events in 1964, 1976 and 1986. We confidently believe she will be with us on July 4, 1992, for the Christopher Columbus Quincentennial now being prepared by our Op Sail 14
Board of Directors. What a wonderful ship-a ship that is almost a living creature, a personality, a star in her own right. I fell in love with this tall ship before I ever saw her. As a neophyte in the shipping field, I saw a model of her in 1943, in the offices of Garcia & Diaz at 25 Broadway, New York. This was the colorful agency in North America for the famed Spanish Line-Compania Trasatlantica Espanola-proud possessors of one of the most magnificent model collections I have ever seen. And there was this stunning model of the Juan Sebastian de Elcano , the highlight of the display. It was love at first sight, and it lasted. One thing that sets this beautiful four-master apart from other tall ships is the year-round use that the Spanish Navy makes of her. This is the way to keep a tall ship young! And since her 1928 maiden voyage every officer in the Spanish Navy has trained aboard her. Would that our own Coast Guard ' s Eagle were better financed by the government so that she could be more fully used. But-no--0ur government prefers to spend our money on an insane policy of over-kill with mountains of worthless atomic bombs and extravagant experiments with chemical warfare and poison gas. And then again, a breath of fresh air-look at the remarkable sail plan of the Juan Sebastian de Elcano. Built in 1927, she boasts her "old original" rig, according to that scholarly tome by Otmar Schauffelen entitled Great Sailing Ships (Frederick A. Praeger, New York and Washington, 1969). All gaffs must be hoisted by hand. They use mast hoops on all her sail luffs. She has twenty sails and an amazing 26,555 square foot sail area. The tops of her four equally tall masts are 160 feet above the waterline. Each is made of hollow cast iron and the foremast doubles as smokestack, carrying sooty fumes from the galley stove. As the men who work aloft report, this is not hard to endure as the smoke often smells of food. As a schooner, she has fore-and-aft-sails on all four masts , but the foremast also has square sails. Her highly-steeved bowsprit is 63 feet in length. Her figurehead is an unidentified female figure with a crown on her head. The ornate scroll work forward would probably not be done today, as it would be too expensive. The Juan Sebastian de Elcano is named for Magellan's first mate, who completed the first circumnavigation of the world in 1526 after Magellan had been killed. Signs and plaques aboard display an orb which speaks to the ship: Tu Primus Circumdedisti Me-You were the first to round me." It is no mere coincidence that the Juan Sebastian de Elcano has made seven globe-circling voyages, more than any other major sailing ship in modem times. The last included a visit to Australia on the occasion of that country's bicentennial. On the sixth voyage, between December 1981 and July 1982, she was captained by Rear Admiral Christopher Columbus, a direct descendent of the great discoverer. NMHS Advisor Tim Foote was impressed by the traditions observed during his onboard experience in Operation Sail 1976-traditions still alive and little changed from the days of Columbus. Each evening the crew gathers for sung prayers and, on occasion, as Foote writes in Sea History 5, "cadets and sailors face each other at attention across the deck, at salute for minutes at a time as the band plays, and they sing a deep, low, throbbing 'Salve Marinera.' Standing so, hands to forehead, feet as if nailed to the deck, the ranks of men list slowly forward and backward as the ship rolls." Hail theJuanSebastian de Elcano-1ong may she sail! D SEA HISTORY 54, SUMMER 1990