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Tall Ships sailing to Greenport

 

COURTESY PHOTO The Picton Castle will be in Greenport this weekend.
COURTESY PHOTO
The Picton Castle will be in Greenport this weekend.

The Tall Ships of America tour will make a stop in Greenport Harbor this Independence Day weekend, where six vessels from around the world will dock for the Greenport Village Tall Ships Challenge 2015.

Five of the six ships, which hail from four different countries, will be open for tours from Saturday, July 4 through Tuesday, July 7. The event’s signature ship, the Hermione, will arrive on Monday and stay for two days.

A one-day pass for an individual is $20, with family passes being sold for $50. The event is $15 for seniors and $10 for children.

Tours of the ships will be held from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day. Front and Main streets will be closed to vehicular traffic from the intersection of 3rd and Front Street to Center and Main Street during those hours.

HERMIONE
A 145-foot replica of the French Navy frigate that carried the Marquis de Lafayette to the aid of General George Washington in America in 1780, the Hermione is considered one of the most historically accurate reconstructions ever built.

The handcrafted replica took nearly 20 years to build and made its maiden voyage to America earlier this year.

The reconstruction of the ship is said to celebrate not only the courage of Lafayette,  but also the craftsmanship of the Poitou-Charentes region in western France, where the ship was built.

Lafayette, who was just 23 years old at the time of his voyage, was a key figure in the French Revolution a decade later. He returned to the United States in 1824, where he was greeted with a hero’s welcome.

The vessel is expected to arrive in Greenport at about 7:30 a.m. Monday, July 6, with a welcoming ceremony planned for later that morning. The ship, considered the headliner of this year’s festival, can be toured between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. Monday and Tuesday.

KALMAR NYCKEL
The original Kalmar Nyckel was the flagship in Governor Peter Minuit’s 1638 expedition that founded the colony of New Sweden, the first European settlement in the Delaware Valley.

Today, the replica ship is used as a floating classroom, teaching students about Delaware’s rich maritime history.

The original ship was a new type of gun-armed merchant vessel called a Dutch Pinnace that was built in Amsterdam in 1625. It later served as an auxiliary warship in the Swedish Navy.

No definitive records exist, but the original vessel is believed to have been sunk while serving as an escort vessel for the Dutch in a war against the English in 1652.

The Kalmar Nyckel is expected to arrive in Greenport today, Thursday, July 2. It will be available for tours each of the festival’s four days.

LYNX
Inspired by the Privateer Lynx, the legendary Tall Ship from the War of 1812, reconstruction on the Lynx began in 1997.

The vision of Woodson K. Woods in having the 78-foot replica built was to use it to teach both children and adults about the history of America’s struggle to preserve its independence through sail training. The replica first launched in 2001.
The Privateer Lynx was an 1812 Baltimore Clipper schooner that originated on Chesapeake Bay. Privateers were rarely used to engage the enemy, but instead served as escort ships used to harass enemy shipping vessels.

The Lynx is expected to enter Greenport Harbor about noon on Friday, July 3. It will be available for tours each of the festival’s four days.

PICTON CASTLE
A 179-foot, 284-ton ship out of Nova Scotia, the Picton Castle is used for sail training voyages around the world.
In the past decade, the Picton Castle has circled the globe five times.

Aboard the ship, workshops are conducted on rope rigging, sail making, boat handling, navigation and practical seamanship. The Picton Castle is also used to carry supplies and educational materials to small islands in the South Pacific.

Later this year, the Picton Castle is expected to embark on a six-month transatlantic voyage with stops in Spain, Portugal and the West Indies.

It is expected to enter Greenport Harbor about noon on Friday, July 3. It will be available for tours each of the festival’s four days.

SAGRES
The Sagres is a 295-foot Navy Tall Ship out of Portugal that was actually built in 1937 by the German Navy.

First used in international training voyages, the vessel later served as an office ship for Germany during World War II. In 1944, Sagres was put into military action, only to be damaged by a Soviet mine that November and captured by the U.S. Navy.

The ship was then sold by the U.S. in 1948 to Brazil, who after more than a dozen years sold it Portugal in 1961. Still in service as a training ship for the Portugese Navy, the Sagres made its first voyage around the world in 2010.
It is expected to enter Greenport Harbor about 11 a.m. on Friday, July 3. It will be available for tours each of the festival’s four days.

A.J. MEERWALD
New Jersey’s official Tall Ship, the A.J. Meerwald is a restored oyster dredging schooner.

Launched in 1928, the ship was one of hundreds of schooners built along South Jersey’s Bayshore before the decline of the shipbuilding industry, which coincided with the Great Depression.

Today, the vessel is used by the Bayshore Center at Bivalve for onboard educational programs.

The A.J. Meerwald was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 7, 1995.

The ship is expected to arrive in Greenport today, Thursday. It will be available for tours each of the festival’s four days.