Coast Guard cadets furl sails aboard the USCG bark Eagle. (Photo: US Coasr Guard Academy)
c ruel, but in the midst of upheava l learning too k place. It isn ' t a stretc h to say that the men who sailed these ships also played an illuminating rol e in pushing bac k barri ers and broadenin g human hori zons. From before the voyages of Columbus, sa ilo rs have been known as a brothe rhood of the sea. In the Mediterranea n, sa ilors of many natio ns voyaged together. They spo ke the ir own ling ua fra nca, a mi xture ofltali an, Fre nc h, Spa ni sh, Arabic, Greek and Turki sh. In late r centu ri es, thi s was a lso true aboard the bi g grain ships. Villie rs no ted of the Parma in 1932: "The ship is triling ual. Nearl y eve ryone seem s to speak Swedi sh, Ge rman and En g li sh- not pe rfec tl y of course, but quite sufficie ntly to mi x together and carry on shipboard converse." As we face the ne w mill ennium , the seas that brought mankind togethe r in the last tho usand years may be the means fo r us to find a commo n sense of hum anity. The c halle nge w ill not be met by us simpl y speaking o ne anothe r's language, but in the same way that sa iling ships brought us all in touch , from Crete to the Caribbean to the Pacific, they have extraordinary potential to bring us togethe r in understanding and in coope rati on, wo rking for common goal s. From Swan Song to Siren Call Among the tall ships sailing upri ver that day in 1986 was a newcomer: the histo ric bark Elissa, Scotti sh-built in 1877. The re was great significance to he r presence. A deteri orated hulk headed fo rthe scrapya rd in Pi raeus, Greece, she was purc hased by maritime arc haeologist Pe te r Throckmorton and became a foca l point of the NMHS ship-saving effort led by the late Karl Kortum. After a tric ky Atl anti c tow, she was lovingl y and la bo ri o us ly restored in Galveston , Texas. Whe n she took her place in OpSail '86, she, pe rhaps more than most, was testimo ny to a growing rev ival of the sa il tra ining tradi tion-one of the outcomes that prev io us OpSail s had helped to foste r. OpS ail 1964 had been la unc hed by Pres ident Ke nnedy afte r a meeting w ith Fra nk Braynard and Emil M os bac her in 196 1. Twelve major ta!I ships a nd I I small er o nes from 13 countries pa rtic ipated. It was supposed to be the las t gathering of the elephants-a roma ntic, nostalgic last look at a d ying spec ies, the large sa iling vessel. But in the wake of th at first OpSail , the idea of sail training too k ho ld a nd e ncouraged a re vival of the sailing ship
as a means of c haracter build ing. T hi s new ethos led Pe te r Stanfo rd and Opsa il fo unde r Frank Bray nard to dete rmine it had to be do ne aga in fo r the bi cente nni a l in 1976. Few reali zed how signi fica nt OpSa il '76 wo ul d be. Until the Jast weeks befo re the Fourth, Pres iden t Ford did not in tend to be in New York for the event. But wo rd came that m illio ns of peopl e were mak ing plans to atte nd and OpSa il ' 76 we nt on to become the premi e r e ve nt of the nati on ' s 200th anni ve rsary. The swan song of the sa iling ships became a siren ca ll . Publi c in te res t has soared s ince that time and sa il tra ining s hips and programs for a ll ages have multipli e d. W e ' ve h ad Opsa il '76, '86, and ' 92 and now we ready o urse lves fo r OpSa il 2000 w ith an ex panded program of inte rnation al races and m ultiple port visits. What Better Symbol ? The turn o f a century is a time to look fo r sig ns and symbols, a nd to make fresh commitme nts and new resoluti o ns as indi vidua ls and natio ns. What better way to celebrate the future th an by brin g ing together I 0,000 of the wo rl d 's yo uth on mo re than 300 vessels hai ling fro m all corne rs of the g lo be to sail in inte rnati ona l waters. I cannot thin k of a no the r
SEA HISTORY 8 1, SPRING/SU MM ER 1997
eve nt tha t co uld ca pture ma nkind ' s imag inatio n as thi s o ne w ill . Of the many inte rnatio nal gatherings, none represents mo re comple te ly the best wishes and hi ghest hopes of humanity. T hi s hi sto ri c gathering of ta ll shi ps and the ir c rews is a potent and poeti c meta ph or fo r mankind meeting and coming to te rm s with itse lfo n thi s small blue glo be hun g in the .t heavens.
Kevin Haydon is contributing editor /o r Sea Hi sto ry maga:ine.
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