Do we work and sail aboard ELISSA for a journey into the past…or for a journey into our future? As we approach ELISSA’s 2012 rehabilitation later this summer, I think it is an important question to ask. All of the tasks we do aboard ELISSA contribute to her overall well being and proper stewardship. Being one of only a handful of extant sailing ships from the 19th century that still sail, ELISSA is still vibrant and tugging at her mooring lines to once again scud along under full sail and not crumbling away on a rocky promontory or disappearing under the scrapper’s cutting torch as so many of her sisters.
ELISSA’s life has spanned 3 centuries because of your efforts and those of your shipmates that signed on before you. When we are sailing aboard ELISSA, we are touching the past and experiencing some of the thrill of a sailor before the mast during the late 19th century, but ELISSA is constantly sailing into the future. How fortunate we all are to be part of the continuum that began with an iron keel laid in Aberdeen in 1877. ELISSA’s true legacy is us and we honor her with every stroke of a paint brush and handsomely coiled line. It is through our vibrant personal experience with ELISSA that we grow in our appreciation of what she means and represents. What she means to me is a standard and marque of excellence and grace and a place where I grew as a bosun while aboard her in 1988.
Looking ahead, it is much easier to see how ships and experiences like ELISSA can change our world. Each of us walks away after each watch with a piece of ELISSA…she becomes part of us and becomes our legacy as she continues her journey hull down into the future.
Please take a moment to view this color brochure that chronicles ELISSA’s history and current challenges facing her 135 year old iron.
I think it is very well done and tells our story. Guidry News has graciously hosted the brochure on their webpage and is always a good source of information regarding ELISSA. http://www.guidrynews.com/story.aspx?id=1000039912
Fair leads,
Jamie
James L. White
Director
Texas Seaport Museum / 1877 Barque ELISSA
Pier 21, Number 8
Galveston, TX 77550
409-763-1877
409-763-3037 FAX
www.tsm-elissa.org
"Of all the living creatures upon land and sea, it is ships alone that cannot be
taken in by barren pretences, that will not put up with bad art from their masters"
(Joseph Conrad ~ Mirror of the Sea).
