Model Boat Mayhem

Mess Deck: General Section => Full Scale Ships => Topic started by: victorian on September 19, 2008, 11:09:39 am

Title: Some good news from Galveston
Post by: victorian on September 19, 2008, 11:09:39 am
I've been wondering what had become of the beautiful 1877 Scottish built iron barque 'Elissa (http://www.galvestonhistory.org/elissa-history.asp)' during Hurricane Ike. Elissa, which sailed as a British ship until 1897, was discovered in Greece in the 1960's and has been restored to a very high standard. She is moored alongside a museum building in Galveston and makes regular sea trips.

Heres the last shot from the harbour webcam looking at Elissa's mooring, hauntingly frozen in time by the power failure and still up on the Internet today:

(http://www.viewing.com/Mars/Galveston%20harbour%20webcam.jpg)

And here's the ship in 2006:

(http://www.viewing.com/Mars/KPRC%20to%20KISM135%20(Small).JPG)

So it's a considerable relief to find the Houston Chronicle  (http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6003383.html) saying "The famous 1877 ship Elissa lost several sails but seemed to ride out the hurricane well, Jones said, adding that the Elissa sails every spring and should be able to make her annual March voyage. The vessel is attached to the shore through large steel pipes driven into the harbor bottom.

"We're very pleased that the Elissa has survived this storm, as she has many other hurricanes before," Jones said. "She's very seaworthy and very strong."

Good news indeed.