Cadiz, Spain
Columbus Day celebrations in Cadiz were highlighted by a visit from the Juan Sebastian de Elcano. Spain’s sail training vessel was berthed just ahead of us in the inner harbor. After mandatory life boat muster on the Endeavour, we headed to the old town of Cadiz but it was the rare person who could not resist a visit aboard one of the most famous square-riggers still at sea. Sailors-in-training, smartly dressed in whites, cordially welcomed aboard for a tour.
Juan Sebastian de Elcano was second in command to Magellan in his attempt to be the first to sail around the world. As every school child knows, Magellan was killed in the Philippine Islands but this sail training vessel’s namesake completed the circumnavigation. For this feat of sailsmanship, the four-masted barkantine was named in his honor.
With colored flags flying from lines that went from the bow to the mastheads and to the stern, this square rigger was an impressive sight. Clearly, brass had been polished, decks had been swabbed and sails had been furled tightly in preparation for the hundreds of visitors that soon flooded the decks. The masts at about 50 meters strained our neck muscles as we peered skyward toward the mastheads. Four yards or spars on the foremast held the square sails, all reminiscent of an earlier time in ocean travel. The sails on the lower two spars, the main and the topsail, were set by hauling the sails down from the yard, but the upper two sails were set by raising the topgallant and royal yards. The remaining sails were gaff-rigged, fore and aft sails, a sail style that gradually replaced the square sails. The pinnacle of the square rig sailing days have been excitingly retold in the books of Patrick O’Brian.
On October 7, the Endeavour passed another square rigged ship, the Korosos, from the Ukraine. She, unlike the Juan Sebastian de Elcano, was under full sail with all square sails set on all three masts making her a full rigged ship. (see the Endeavour’s website for that day.)
Today we sail for the Canary Islands and tomorrow the Juan Sebastian de Elcano sets sail on a round the world cruise that will take nine and a half months. Two hundred and forty sailors most of them cadets will relive the excitement of the power of sail. We on the other hand with more modern technology will cruise south intersecting many of the great explorers of bygone eras as we visit the Forgotten Islands of the Atlantic.
Columbus Day celebrations in Cadiz were highlighted by a visit from the Juan Sebastian de Elcano. Spain’s sail training vessel was berthed just ahead of us in the inner harbor. After mandatory life boat muster on the Endeavour, we headed to the old town of Cadiz but it was the rare person who could not resist a visit aboard one of the most famous square-riggers still at sea. Sailors-in-training, smartly dressed in whites, cordially welcomed aboard for a tour.
Juan Sebastian de Elcano was second in command to Magellan in his attempt to be the first to sail around the world. As every school child knows, Magellan was killed in the Philippine Islands but this sail training vessel’s namesake completed the circumnavigation. For this feat of sailsmanship, the four-masted barkantine was named in his honor.
With colored flags flying from lines that went from the bow to the mastheads and to the stern, this square rigger was an impressive sight. Clearly, brass had been polished, decks had been swabbed and sails had been furled tightly in preparation for the hundreds of visitors that soon flooded the decks. The masts at about 50 meters strained our neck muscles as we peered skyward toward the mastheads. Four yards or spars on the foremast held the square sails, all reminiscent of an earlier time in ocean travel. The sails on the lower two spars, the main and the topsail, were set by hauling the sails down from the yard, but the upper two sails were set by raising the topgallant and royal yards. The remaining sails were gaff-rigged, fore and aft sails, a sail style that gradually replaced the square sails. The pinnacle of the square rig sailing days have been excitingly retold in the books of Patrick O’Brian.
On October 7, the Endeavour passed another square rigged ship, the Korosos, from the Ukraine. She, unlike the Juan Sebastian de Elcano, was under full sail with all square sails set on all three masts making her a full rigged ship. (see the Endeavour’s website for that day.)
Today we sail for the Canary Islands and tomorrow the Juan Sebastian de Elcano sets sail on a round the world cruise that will take nine and a half months. Two hundred and forty sailors most of them cadets will relive the excitement of the power of sail. We on the other hand with more modern technology will cruise south intersecting many of the great explorers of bygone eras as we visit the Forgotten Islands of the Atlantic.
