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encouragin g the increase in large, more than 60 sai l training vessels traditionall y- ri gged school ships. participating in the event. Tall ship gatherings on a grand scale, None of us had ever experienced such as 1992 ' s Operation Sail and anything so exhi larating; we had Sail Boston , are relatively infrequent known some great sailing in Eagle, of course, but in isolation. The interin North America, for the simple national camaraderie of seafarers, the reason that our only large schoolship challenge and satisfaction of compe(the Coast Guard's Eagle) is based tition, the drama and pageantry of a here, and such ships tend to be tied major international gathe1ing-these fairly closely to an academic prowere all new, and they were wondergram that makes the scheduling of transoceanic voyages difficult to cofull y exciting. It would not be an ordinate with such events; but more overstatement to say that the experimodest gatherings of traditionally ence set my own course for the rerigged vessels, with a11 occasional mainder of my Coas t Guard career, and, while there were many glorilarge school ship , have become a regular feature of such annual fes tious days during my subseq uent vals as Norfolk ' s " Harborfest" and tours in Eagle and other ships, I similar harbor and waterfront celwould frequently look back to 1972 as a kind of watershed, a benchmark Trainees balance on the foot rope and furl the main ebrations around the country . And in Europe, the annual schedule of against which such days were to be topsail aboard the frigate Rose. Sailing square rigged vessels offers unique challenges to trainees. measured. such events is almost bewildering, Such experiences on the part of with port c ities from Scandinavia to the thousands of yo ung people who participate in these events Iberi a vy ing fiercely to host the scores of sai ling vessels in Europe each year, not to mention the millions of spectators competing each year in the "Cutty Sark Tall Ships Races"who go to see the ships and share in the exc itement in the ports direct descendants of that first race in 1956. T he popularity of such events is not surpri sing. For all the which host them , go a long way toward explaining the remarkable growth in size of the world ' s fleet of large, square-rigged obv ious reasons- the desire to celebrate a g lorious maritime schoolships in the late twentieth centu ry. Given the trend in past, nostalgia fo r an age when hum an affairs moved at a modem merchant and naval fleets toward ever larger and more slower and less bewi lde ring tempo, the romance of the sea complex ships with ever smaller and more technologically and far-off, exotic pl aces, admiration for the craftsmanship sophi sticated crews, this development could hard ly have been and beauty of the ships themselves-people by the thousands anticipated by the organ izers of the first International Ta ll and even milli ons are drawn to the waterfront whenever Ships Race in 1956. They set out to bring together what they sailin g ships are in harbor. In hi s foreword to Operation Sail's believed were the last of the great square riggers still training official program for the 1992 event, OpS ail 's Honorary yo ung men for careers at sea for a race across the Bay of Biscay Chairm an , Walter Cronkite, suggests that we celebrate ships from Torbay to Lisbon . Five ships enbecause they brought our world " to the criti ca l pitch of communication and tered that race, three of them ScandinaFrom the beginning, it was to commerce that has made today's global vian (Danmark , Christian Radich, and S¢rlandet), one Belgian (Mercator), and be "less a training for the sea awareness poss ible." Whatevertheattraction, visitors drawn one Portuguese (Sagres !) . Eight years than through the sea ... " later, when the organ izers of the first by tall ships events inev itably provide an "Operation Sail" in New York Harbor economic boost to the cities hosting them had a similar idea (the race was separately organized), more and can even be a catal yst for waterfront redevelopment, improved facilities for tourism, and so forth. The Commonthan twice as many large ships showed up-three of them (Germany's Gorch Fock II , Argentina ' s Libertad, and Chile ' s wealth of Massachusetts, for example, has estimated the Esmeralda) of post-World War II build. And by 1992, when overall economic impact of Sail Boston 1992 at something on the "Grand Regatta Columbus Quincentenary" visited San the order of $500 million; and a study commi ssioned by the Juan, New York, and Boston in commemoration of Col um Merseyside Development Corporation, which organized bus' voyage to the New World , fully 10 of the 24 naval and events in the port of Liverpool for the final port call of the merchant schoo lships present had been built since 1964. Grand Regatta Columbus, reports benefits on a comparable scale. For the owners (usually governments) of large schoolships, such events are a marvelous oppo1tunity for Drawn by Tall Ships To those (and I am one) who believe that the modern squareshowing the flag and generating international goodwill , or rigged ship represents a pinnacle of human achievement in even for subtl y promoting economic investment in their appropriate technology , and that-notwithstandi ng the size countries-a fact which may help to explain why much of the and compl ex ity of modern oceangoi ng vessels-training at recent growth in the number of large schoolships has been in such places as Latin America and Eastern Europe (including sea under sai l remains the best possible sort of apprenticeship fo r those aspiring to a seagoing career, this growth in the Russia). For the crews and trainees , of course, such events have always been a wonderful opportunity to meet, compete, number of schoo lsh ips is indeed gratify ing. But it must be acknowledged that the equally remarkable growth in popuand party with people of simi tar age and interests, and to learn larity of tall ships events has played a significant part in more about other cultures. SEA HISTORY 70, SUMMER 1994
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