Elissa 092013

ELISSA Log

Texas Seaport Museum / Galveston Historica l Foundation

TSM/GHF

Calendar of Events

September

7: Girl Scout Overnight and

Overnight Training at 5pm

14: Boy Scout Overnight

14: Seamanship Class 5

21: Girl Scout Overnight



October



5: Volunteer Appreciation

Party

CALL FOR ARTICLES!

We need you – yes, you! – to

write articles or stories for the

Log! If you have an article or a

story in you that you'd like to

share, please send it our way.

Here are some ideas....

Articles about nautical or

maritime books or events

Articles providing historical

ship-related info that might be of

interest to Log readers

Articles on what it’s like to be

an ELISSA volunteer crew

member – sail training, why

you volunteered, etc.

Reports on events that have

happened around ELISSA....

Please email your ideas to [email protected]

Thanks!

We are still looking for people to sign up to help

prep the ELISSA in the event of a hurricane.

Please contact me with you phone number and

address if you are interested.

Sail training is in full swing and we’re hum-

ming along here at the waterfront. We had an

influx of sail trainees with the addition of the

Aggie students from Tom Oertling’s class this

past Saturday. This brings the roster to 120

people if everyone shows up at the same

time! The A&M class happens here on the Tex-

as Seaport Museum on Fridays from 0900 to

1245. Tom has graciously extended an open

invitation to anyone that wants to audit the

class to come on down and participate.

The deck is almost all laid and soon the ship-

wrights will move into full swing of caulking

and pitching the main deck.

We will also be integrating some A&M mari-

time academy cadets in to our maintenance

schedule. A total of 50 students will be filling

part of their class requirements right here on

the Elissa!

Coming highlights:

Next sail training day is September 14th and

AUGUST 2006

we will be setting and dousing headsails.

This is the first step in the real practical

hands on line handling skills. We will be

handling sails in some form or another

every sail training from this day on. The

following class on the 28th we will be cer-

tifying climbers and getting people into

the rigging. These are important classes

so please make them if you can.

Locker Clean Out:

The date is set. At the days end on the

14th of September please have all of your

items either in your locker or out of the

locker room. We will be removing all the

leftover items that week and cleaning out

the Locker room. The following sail train-

ing day we will have all the items we re-

moved available to review before they

disappear. We will do our best to make

sure no one’s personal gear goes missing

were simply trying to get rid of the items

that have been lingering in there unused

for years. The bright neon green tags are

this year’s sticker. Come and see me if

you need one and haven’t tagged your

locker yet. If you’re out of town and won’t

be back before the date please get in

touch with me to make arrangements.

Bosun’s Corner By Mark Scibinico

Department of Education

PAGE 2 NEWSLETTER TITLE PAGE 2 ELISSA LOG

for two at most (although they are still required to

stay on site all night). And officers receive volun-

teer hours for the whole program. That’s right! You

earn hours by sleeping. That’s almost as awesome

as rust busting in the bilges!

Audio Tour! Starting December 11th, we will have

an audio tour on board the ELISSA. It is written by

yours truly and feature some familiar voices. And,

before you ask, no, you can’t narrate the tour. The

audio company we hired for

the project recording it with

a professional voice actor.

We’re keeping our fingers

crossed for Meryl Streep.

Youth Crew! Starting in

January we will have begin

Youth Crew! That’s like the

ELISSA Seamanship pro-

gram except for itty bittys.

Anyone between the ages of

11-17 is welcome to join. It

will be an abbreviated pro-

gram with 5 or 10 classes led

by me me me.

Docents! We are always looking for volunteer do-

cents. These are volunteers who give groups guided

tours of the ELISSA. Anyone interested in serving

as an ELISSA Ambassador? Again, all hours you

spend as a docent count towards your volunteer

hours.

Math! Let’s face it guys. Math is cool, but math on

board ships is cooler. That’s why I’m building a cur-

riculum for a new educational program that lets

students use ELISSA to experience an environment

ruled by math and physics. Hopefully, we can get

this program rolling in Spring of 2014. Alas, I am

not a professional at math - only a fan. So I’m al-

ways looking for mathematically inclined volun-

teers to check over my work.

The End:

Well, I hope you learned something. I hope you had

fun. I hope you learned that learning can be fun!

Ah, see what I did there?

Hello:

Some of you might have seen me wandering

around the property or making random an-

nouncements about upcoming events. You

might have even read some of my emails. I

thought I’d take a moment to introduce myself

to all of you who have wondered (sometimes out

loud), “Who is she and what does she do here?”

First, a little about me. I am from Whidbey Is-

land, which is off the

coast of Washington

state, and I began my

career in the maritime

industry in 2009 when I

started working on such

historic ships as the LA-

DY WASHINGTON and

HAWAIIAN

CHEIFTAIN. Most re-

cently, I worked as the

Education Director on

board the SULTANA,

which is based on the

Chesapeake Bay. I have

experience developing and presenting educa-

tional programs that focus on maritime history,

marine biology, and traditional seamanship for

both children and adults.

My official title for the Texas Seaport Museum

is Coordinator of Maritime Education and Mu-

seum Programs. Mr. Jamie White hired me to

manage the current educational programs at

the Museum, such as the “It’s a Sailor’s Life!”

overnights, as well as develop new programs to

draw more visitors down to experience the

ELISSA.

That’s me in a nutshell.

What’s New:

Overnights! They are starting up again now

that the weather is cooling down, and—as much

as I love the regular overnight volunteers—we

are always recruiting new faces.

We’ve changed a few the overnight policies. Be-

fore, officers were expected to be up 4 hours

during the night; now, they only have to be up

By Rachael Protas


Last week I was at the San Diego Maritime

Museum performing a rig inspection for the

1863 Barque STAR OF INDIA, the HMS SUR-

PRISE, and the topsail schooner CALIFOR-

NIA. These surveys were mandated by the US

Coast Guard. The photo to the left is a me in-

specting the headrig on the STAR and the oth-

er is with Chris Welton, who has sailed with

us in the past as mate.

The regular Director’s Column will return in

next month’s log. Fair winds!

ELISSA Seamanship Training Study Groups!

Katy

The group meets every Thursday at the Shakespeare Pub.

14129 Memorial Drive.

Between Kirkwood and Dairy Ashford

Please have them contact Eric Wagner or Bobbi Sheffield if you are interested in showing up.

Galveston

The Galveston Study Group meets monthly: September 13, October 25, November 22, and December 20. They

meet at Richard and Judy’s house, 2513 Avenue O½, starting at 6:00 p.m. Bring pet ropes, questions, favorite

drink, and money for pizza.

Clearlake

Clear Lake study group will meet Thursdays before sail training starting on the 29th at 6:30. The initial meeting

will be at Greg’s place and may move around in the future. Bring $ for pizza and BYOB.

4519 Kingston Harbor Dr, Taylor Lake Village, 77586. 4521 and 4523 are for sale and can park in the driveway

or along the curbs.

Phone: 713-553-7896

Director’s Column by Jamie White

“Schooners are the dogs of American ships; faithful, serving without

clamour for fame, bearing eagerly the burdens of her masters.”

A Schooner is a ship that is fore and aft rigged. In early days a

Schooner would have a squaresail or two, making it a Topsail

Schooner, but during the time the Schooner was the most numerous

of all sailing vessels in America the standard design was entirely fore

and aft rigged and all the masts were the same height.

Although there were Schooners in America as

early as the Revolutionary War days, her hey-

day came after the Civil War. By then two

masts were the accepted rig, but the trend for

larger cargo holds had begun and would not

end until one had been built with seven masts.

The American Schooner was born out of a

need for speed. Revolutionary era smugglers

needed a fast little boat that could outrun the

large British cruisers and be able to hide out in

the small coves where the smugglers traded in

the West Indies. Such a vessel could be sailed by a few trusted men,

could sail closer to the wind, and had a more shallow draft to avoid

the shoals and mudflats in the out of the way places where they did

their loading and unloading.

During the War of 1812, Schooners designed for Privateering proved

very speedy indeed, the American vessels were no match for British

heavily armed ships and many were sunk. Their ability to survive de-

pended on their sailing skills and the Schooner was ideally adapted

for fleeing.

The fast Clipper ships that were the early Schooners were developed

into cargo Schooners by the 1860’s as lumber and coal suppliers

wanted larger holds. The Schooners of the 1850’s could carry 150

tons but that was not enough. Maine shipbuilders began experiment-

ing with larger hulls to increase the amount of cargo that could be

taken in a single trip. However as the ships were made larger they

developed faults, the worst difficulty was the huge mainsail, it was

too hard to handle with a six man crew if a sudden squall hit, and the

reason the Schooner was loved was the small crews it had, the solu-

tion was to add a third mast. The three masted Schooners could car-

ry more canvas but each sail was smaller and easier to use and up

to 500 tons could be fit into the larger hulls. The three masted

Schooners were especially used for the lumber trade and they had

special ports cut in the bows to load the long lengths of lumber more

easily.

Builders needed lumber for homes, housewives needed cordwood

for cooking, and Victorian houses used a lot of lumber, as ornamen-

tation was the style. Pine, Spruce, and Hemlock from the NE, South-

ern Pine from Georgia, and when the Panama Canal opened Doug-

las Fir and Redwood from Oregon and California was all transported

on Schooners.

Also during the Schooner era coal was the fuel of the nation. Soft

bituminous coal was used to generate

steam in the early engines. Gone were the

days when water generated energy could

supply the power needed to run the mills of

New England. The faster industry spread the

more Schooners were needed to transport

coal. This lead to needing even more ca-

pacity in the hulls and four

masted ships came into

use that could carry 2,500

tons in the 1880’s.

The Donkey Engine was

added to raise gaffs,

weigh anchor, load cargo,

and even heat the ships.

Without the donkey en-

gine it seems unlikely that

a Schooner could be de-

signed with 5 masts, the

sails would have been to

heavy for human muscle alone to raise. The

first five masted Schooner was built in 1888

the ‘Governor Ames’. In the 1890’s the six

masted Schooner ‘George G. Wells’ was

built and could carry 5,000 tons of cargo, but

this stretched the design to its max, more

sheer had to be added and the extra

weight led to ‘hogging’ where the ends

tended to sag. The last great Schooner the

‘Thomas W. Lawson’ was the only seven

masted Schooner ever built.

It’s ironic that the age of coal lengthened

the days of sail as it was cheaper to haul it

with the low costs of the high volume/ low

crew Schooners than to pay for the coal to

operate the steam powered vessels. Unfor-

tunately the unsightly Barge was the ultimate

demise of the sail driven cargo transports.

Schooners: the Dog Days of Commerce by Root Choyce

PAGE 4 ELISSA LOG


ELISSA Seamanship Training Photo of the Month

Regular maintenance days on the 1937 Santa Maria, TSM’s historic Galveston shrimp boat, are starting up

again. Come help maintain this extraordinary survivor the first Sunday of the month and the first and third

Monday evening. There are all sorts of projects and routine maintenance to do, and it’s always important to

take the boat out to exercise the engine. Email me ahead of time if you plan to come help so that projects

can be organized.

Santa Maria will be hauled out for routine bottom painting

and maintenance the first week of September . If you can

be crew for the trip from her berth at the Mosquito Fleet to

the boat yard at pier 77, let John know your availabil-

ity. We’ll probably go this Wednesday, Thursday, or Fri-

day. Come help scrape a barnacle or two, replace zincs,

and paint the bottom. We’re also looking for someone who

could pick up the antifouling paint at International Paint

in Deer Park on Tuesday or Wednesday. We’ll be working

on the boat Saturday September 7 as well. Email me if you

can help with any of this and we will plan around that.

Santa Maria! by John Schaumburg



`Please Support the Texas Seaport Museum!

Your Donations Help Keep ELISSA Alive!

$20,000 will allow us to replace the foredeck

$15,000 provides funds for restoration of the 1877 skylight and companionway

$10,000 pays our insurance bill for one month

$2,500 pays our electricity bill for one month

$1,000 provides funds for our small boat program

$500 will buy 250 feet of 1/2-inch Spunflex line for running rigging

$100 provides funds for 5 good-quality paint brushes

$50 pays for a one-month supply of sandpaper

YES, I WANT TO HELP KEEP ELISSA SAILING!

Enclosed is my check for $____________, payable to Galveston Historical Foundation.

Name: _______________________________________________

Mailing Address: _________________________________________ City, State, Zip: ____________________________

Thank you for your contribution! Please mail to Texas Seaport Museum, Pier 21, No. 8, Galveston, TX 77550.

TSM Staff:

Director:

Assistant Director:

Bosun:

Maritime and Museum Education:

The ELISSA Log is the official newsletter of the Texas Seaport

Museum volunteers. Articles, letters, photos and artwork are

welcomed, appreciated and encouraged. Please mail them to

TSM or email them to [email protected]

All submissions are subject to approval and editing, and all

opinions are those of the author only.

Submission deadline: 23rd of the month.

Editor: Rachael Protas

The name and image of ELISSA are registered trademarks of

Pier 21, Number 8

Galveston, Texas 77550

Phone: (409) 763-1877

Fax: (409) 763-3037

Email:

[email protected]

TEXAS SEAPORT MUSEUM / GALVESTON

HISTORICAL FOUNDATIO N

NOTE NEW EMAIL ADDRESSES:

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

We’re on the Web!

www.tsm-elissa.org

www.facebook.com/1877Elissa

twitter.com/TallShipElissa

Jamie White

John Schaumburg

Mark Scibinico

Rachael Protas

http://www.galvestonhistory.org/

Documents

Elissa 092013