Greenport Tall Ships Guide: Festival runs through Tuesday
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.
CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE TICKETS
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 streets to Center and Main streets during those hours.
The event, which is expected to bring tens of thousands of visitors to the village, is being hosted by the Village of Greenport and the Greenport Business Improvement District.
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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 transatlantic crossing took about a month, with the ship making landfall in Yorktown, Va., in June. It is currently wrapping up a 12-city U.S. tour before setting sail back to France later this month.
The reconstruction of the ship is said to celebrate not only the courage of Lafayette, who has been dubbed the “Hero of Two Worlds,” 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 currently on display in New York City but 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.
The Kalmar Nyckel made four roundtrip crossings of the Atlantic Ocean, more than any other ship of the American colonial era.
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, before being decommissioned in 1651.
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 arrived in Greenport Wednesday morning. 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 and was the largest shipbuilding project taken on by Rockport Marine in Maine in more than 100 years.
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 was one of the War of 1812’s earlier privateer vessels and was captured early in the war.
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.
The ship was last docked in Greenport during the village’s Tall Ships Challenge event in 2012.
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 among its many travels.
Aboard the ship, which has won the Sail Training of the Year award, workshops are conducted on rope rigging, sail making, boat handling, navigation and practical seamanship. This Picton Castle is also used to carry supplies and educational materials to small islands in the South Pacific.
The completely refitted barque is equipped with an 1893 cook stove and there are berths for over 40 sail trainees and a dozen crew members. Sleeping accommodations are bunkroom style, in two tiers of pilot bunks, complete with curtains for privacy.
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.
The Picton Castle was last docked in Greenport during the village’s Tall Ships Challenge event in 2012.
SAGRES
A steel-built, three-masted barque, 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 a stationary office ship for Nazi 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 whose home port is in Bivalve, Commercial Township, N.J.
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 in the Delaware Bay near Bivalve, and at other ports in the New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware region.
The A.J. Meerwald was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Nov. 7, 1995.
The ship is expected to arrive in Greenport Thursday, July 2. It will be available for tours each of the festival’s four days.
MARITIME FESTIVITIES
Saturday, July 4
10 a.m.: Opening ceremony
10 a.m. to 6 p.m.: Ship tours
10 a.m. to 9 p.m.: Mitchell Park exhibits, East End Seaport Museum opens, carousel rides
11 a.m. to 5 p.m.: Village Historical Blacksmith Shop opens
4 to 5:30 p.m.: Excursion tour to Bug Lighthouse
6 to 11 p.m.: Greenport Fire Department Carnival
10 p.m.: Fireworks at Polo Grounds on Moores Lane
Sunday, July 5
10 a.m. to 6 p.m.: Ship tours
10 a.m. to 9 p.m.: Mitchell Park exhibits, East End Seaport Museum opens, carousel rides
11 a.m. to 5 p.m.: Village Historical Blacksmith Shop opens
Noon to 2 p.m.: Live radio broadcast by WEHM in Mitchell Park
4 to 5:30 p.m.: Excursion tour to Bug Lighthouse
6 to 11 p.m.: Greenport Fire Department Carnival
10 p.m.: Fireworks at Polo Grounds on Moores Lane
Monday, July 6
7:30 to 8:30 a.m.: Hermione’s arrival
10 a.m.: Hermione welcome ceremony and interactive tent opens
10 a.m. to 6 p.m.: Ship tours
10 a.m. to 9 p.m.: Mitchell Park exhibits, East End Seaport Museum opens, carousel rides
Tuesday, July 7
10 a.m. to 6 p.m.: Ship tours
10 a.m. to 6 p.m.: Hermione interactive tent
10 a.m. to 9 p.m.: Mitchell Park exhibits, East End Seaport Museum opens, carousel rides
11 a.m. to 5 p.m.: Village Historical Blacksmith Shop opens.
LIVE MUSIC
Saturday, July 4
Main Stage
Noon to 2 p.m.: Eastbound Freight
3:30 to 5 p.m.: Who Are Those Guys
6:30 to 8:30 p.m.: Funkin’ A
Second Stage
2 to 3:30 p.m.: Nina Et Cetera
5 to 6:30 p.m.: Mick Hargreaves
Sunday, July 5
Main Stage
Noon to 2 p.m.: Inda Eaton
3:30 to 5 p.m.: Hopefully Forgiven
7 to 9 p.m.: HooDoo Loungers
Second Stage
2 to 3:30 p.m.: Marty Attridge Trio
5:30 to 7 p.m.: Black and Sparrow
Monday, July 6
Main Stage
1:30 to 3:30 p.m.: Gene Casey & the Lone Sharks
Second Stage
Noon to 1:30 p.m.: Porch Groove
Greenport Dances in the Park
7:30 p.m.: Bobby Nathan Band
