Galveston Historical Foundation

06/13/2026

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ELISSA Port Captain's Log: 12 noon, Saturday, June 13th, 2026
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EAT. FOOD.

It is often thought that the Captain, Chief Mate, or even the Bosun is the most important person aboard ship. In reality, there are two people who stand above the rest: the Cook and the Chief Engineer. They keep morale high, the crew fed, and the ship’s systems running smoothly.

Our Cook, Kirin (and her assistant Megan), has prepared some of the most amazing underway meals for us. Some of my personal favorites thus far have been juevos rancheros for breakfast, shrimp pad thai for lunch, and baked fish with asparagus for dinner. We even had fresh ceviche from a couple of fresh-caught mahi-mahi.

In the months prior to departure, we completed a major refit of our galley, including adding a second stove, a refrigerator, an ice maker, and a stand mixer. One of our crafty volunteers even made some new countertops with fiddle rails to keep food, utensils, and coffee cups firmly in place. It is a tight space, but far more functional than it was previously.

Provisioning and preparing meals for thirty-two crew in a seaway is no easy undertaking, but our stellar galley team is absolutely killing it. I had hoped to lose a little weight on this trip, but that is not looking likely!

In other goings-on, we are passing through the Florida Strait as I type this, with Marathon off the port side. Numerous small fishing craft buzz close by on their way to Cay Sal Bank to get their photo opportunities; it is not too often one sees a 148-year-old iron barque in these waters! In fact, in the last 24 hours, ELISSA has officially surpassed her farthest point from Galveston since 1986. We have made our turn to the ENE and are officially in the Atlantic Ocean!

Tomorrow we stop briefly in Fort Pierce for fuel, provisions, and some additional spare parts.

Regards,
Port Captain Ryan Bradfield

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POSITIONING
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ELISSA at 12 noon (CDT)
Distance Traveled: 895 nautical miles
Position: 24deg 52.3'N 080deg 18.6'W
Course: 045deg M
Speed-Over-Ground: 11 knots
Weather: Freakin' beautiful

06/13/2026

Houston’s one and only Kam Franklin makes her St. Joseph’s debut tonight. She’s traveling with a batch of new songs and is kicking off her solo tour in one of Galveston’s favorite listening rooms. 7 pm. Tickets at the door and at galvestonhistory.org!

06/13/2026

Houston’s one and only Kam Franklin makes her St. Joseph’s debut tonight. She’s traveling with a batch of new songs and is kicking off her solo tour in one of Galveston’s favorite listening rooms. 7 pm. Tickets at the door and at galvestonhistory.org!

06/12/2026

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ELISSA Captain's Log: 12 noon, Thursday, June 11th, 2026
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UNDER SAIL!

I don’t think there’s a single person in ELISSA’s 32-person crew who has ever been so happy & excited for an oil change.

Here’s the deal. Ever since departing Galveston, we have experienced 100% exactly contrary winds. To get around Florida, we need to go towards the Southeast, and the breezes have unfailingly been FROM the southeast. So even when we’ve been able to set some sails, we have also been running the engine to push us along.

And that engine, that brand-new diesel which was just installed a couple of months back, is now due for its 100-hour oil change, an important step in the break-in process for a new diesel. So, to let the engine cool down and do the oil change, we need to shut down for about 5 hours.

So what are we going to do for five hours in the middle of the Gulf?

Go sailing, of course!

The winds are still contrary, so we are not heading in a beneficial direction, nor moving along very fast, but WE ARE SAILING ALONG with SQUARESAILS SET & DRAWING NICELY.

It gives us some practice handling the ship, the sails, the lines, and it makes the whole crew happy.

Dare I say it? It makes ELISSA happy, too.

Regards,
Captain Andy Ellers

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POSITIONING
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ELISSA at 12 noon (CDT)
Distance Traveled: 492 nautical miles
Position: 26deg 25.0' N x 86deg 45.7' W
Course: 245deg M
Speed-Over-Ground: 2.1kts
Weather: Mostly sunny, 10kt wind from the SE, 3-4ft ocean swell from SE.

06/11/2026

Trivia night returns tonight to the Galveston Historic Seaport! Bring your brain trust talent and join us for this month's Smarty Pints Trivia Night. Doors open at 6, and trivia starts at 6:30 with free admission to the pier for a sunset toast.

06/11/2026

No one does it quite like Houston's Kam Franklin. From lead duties with the wildly influential band The Suffers to incredible solo shows and side projects, Kam brings an incredible range of gifts and talents to her work. Join us this Saturday for a special solo show at the 1859 St. Joseph's Church with selections from her upcoming solo release and a whole lot more. Details and tickets at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/kam-franklin-live-at-the-1859-st-josephs-church-tickets-1981941988841?aff=oddtdtcreator.

06/10/2026

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ELISSA Port Captain's Log: 12 noon, Wednesday, June 10th, 2026
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BLUE YONDER

Yesterday, we passed over the edge of the continental shelf, with our depth going from hundreds of feet to thousands. The shipping traffic now grows sparser by the hour, and the density of oil & gas platforms thins. The sea state has calmed, and the water has finally transitioned from our beloved Galveston “green” to the deep blue sapphire that one longs for when returning to sea.

Last night, the sky cleared, revealing countless stars. Jupiter and Venus showed bright above the stern quarter as the sun retreated into the West.

Accompanied by the beautifully pervasive aroma of cooking bacon this morning, the crew awoke to a stunning sunrise. A massive pod of Atlantic spotted dolphins surrounded the ship, as thousands of flying fish darted away into the distance. We even spotted a Bermuda flying fish amongst the scattered mats of sargassum. A rare sight indeed!

One of our bosun’s mates has a fishing line trolling from the stern. We had a massive FISH ON at around 0900, but it was too large for the spectra line, and it subsequently parted. We’ll keep trying! Fresh ceviche would be a nice afternoon treat!

With the light wind directly on the nose, we continue to steam eastward, ticking off the miles.

Regards,
Port Captain Ryan Bradfield

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POSITIONING
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ELISSA at 12 noon (CDT)
Distance Traveled: 333 nautical miles
Position: 26deg 58.0' N x 89deg 30.4' W
Course: 097deg M
Speed-Over-Ground: 6.9 kt
Weather: Mostly sunny, 10-12kt wind from the E, 3-4ft ocean swell from ESE.

06/09/2026

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ELISSA Captain's Log: 12 noon, Tuesday, June 9th, 2026
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ROUTINE.

It’s maybe a little crazy-sounding for me to describe crossing the gulf, voyaging aboard a 148-year-old barque as “routine,” but that’s now our situation, and it’s GREAT.

We are now over 24 hours underway, and everything has settled into comfortable, safe regularity.

Our departure, with the maneuvering and handling of docklines & sails, was an all-hands situation, but once we cleared out of Galveston Harbor, we “set the watch”.

This entails breaking the crew aboard into four different groups: three sailing watches, and a group designated “dayworkers”. Each of the sailing watches is led by one of the three Mates, and has an engineer, a quartermaster, a senior member of the deck crew, and five additional hands.

Since at sea we sail non-stop, round-the-clock, we need to rotate the duties of running the ship, while allowing everyone off-hours for sleep, meals, etc. Each sailing watch “stands” on duty for four hours, and then gets eight hours off. For instance, the “A” watch works 4-8: so every 4 am to 8 am, and 4 pm to 8 pm, they are the ones on deck, in charge of ELISSA.

(Side Note: I think the 4-8 is the best watch to stand. You get all the sunrises and sunsets. Today's photo is from last night's sunset.)

The “ON” Watch has the duties of navigation, steering the ship, maintaining a bow lookout, oversight of the sails and machinery, and making security / safety walk-throughs of the whole ship, on deck and below. These responsibilities rotate among all the members of each watch: hour-by-hour, watch-by-watch, day-by-day -- keeping us and ELISSA on-track and safe.

ROUTINE....gotta love it.

Regards,
Captain Andy Ellers
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POSITIONING
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ELISSA at 12 noon (CDT)
Distance Traveled: 167 nautical miles
Position: 27deg 42' N x 92deg 26' W
Course: 143deg M
Speed-Over-Ground: 7.0 kt
Weather: Mostly sunny, 10-15kt wind from the SE, 3’-5’ ocean swell from SE.

06/09/2026

Follow our official Galveston 250 account for daily updates on our voyage!

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ELISSA Captain's Log: 6 pm, Monday, June 8th, 2026
===========..and so the voyage begins!

To keep all of ELISSA's fans in Galveston and around the country apprised of our progress on the voyage to the East Coast for the America 250 celebrations, I will endeavor to send out a daily update.

We sailed off the dock today from the Galveston Historic Seaport, a perfect way to begin our voyage UNDER SAIL. By the time we reached the entrance of the bay, the wind was exactly contrary to the direction we needed to go, so we had shortened down to our lower fore & aft sails, and with our brand new diesel engine working hard, we are now motor-sailing towards the southeast.

Spirits are high in the crew as all their hard work and preparations have paid off, and we are now UNDERWAY AT SEA!

Regards,
Captain Andy Ellers

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POSITIONING
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ELISSA at 6 pm (CDT)
Position: 29deg 01' N x 94deg 10' W
Course: 118deg M
Speed-Over-Ground: 7.5 kt
Weather: Overcast skies, 10-15kt wind from the SE

06/08/2026

The Official Tall Ship of Texas departs the Galveston Historic Seaport for New York City's Sail4th 250.