Galveston Historical Foundation

08/21/2026

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08/20/2026

Today marks a long-awaited milestone: the placement of four hippocampi on the roof of the 1892 Bishop's Palace. The current project marks the third roof in the property’s history, following a 1924 replacement that excluded the turret. The work also includes installing four decorative hippocampi, mythical sea creatures that were part of architect Nicholas J. Clayton’s original vision for the property. Earlier versions, which differed from Clayton’s designs, were lost over time. The newly created hippocampi are based on Clayton’s original drawings, marking the first time his intended designs have been fully realized. Additional work included reinstalling lightning protection, guttering systems, and other components essential to the building’s long-term protection and preservation.

These pieces, placed with precision care by R B Hash & Associates, Inc were manufactured by Ludowici and are breathtaking. Additional work being completed includes placement of the ridge row and the last pieces to the turret and its decorative elements. Many thanks to HomeTown Bank, N.A. for financing this project. We'll have much more to show off soon!

08/17/2026

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ELISSA Captain's Log: 12 pm, Friday, August 14 - Saturday, August 15, 2026
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OUR LAST DAY AT SEA

"Good-bye, brothers [and sisters]! You were a good crowd. As good a crowd as ever fi**ed with wild cries the beating canvas of a heavy foresail; or tossing aloft, invisible in the night, gave back yell for yell to a westerly gale." - Joseph Conrad

The last day of a voyage always has a bittersweet side. It is a time of anticipation, yes. Of reunions, of celebration, of the joy of completion. But it also brings a certain sadness. An awareness that a familiar routine is ending, that the unique coming together of individuals to form a crew is about to dissolve, that the shared joys and hardships that go into making a voyage are soon to end.

And then there is the ship herself. The relationship formed with an object that is more than a manifestation of wood, steel, or even fiberglass. The ship—home, transport, caregiver—one with whom a bond of understanding is established. What to ask of her. How will she respond? What she will or won’t do. All of this is about to end. So yes, bittersweet. Knowing that all voyages have a beginning and an end makes the ending no less sad.

The last 24 hours of this voyage have been under sail alone, as have been the previous 24+. Fifty straight hours of sail, in fact, to finish the voyage. How fine!

Most of the voyage back from New England has been powered by diesel rather than wind. Adverse sailing conditions and schedules required it. These last few days, however, have brought picture-book sailing.

To properly time our Galveston return, the last night out was spent hove to under tops’ls—fore backed, main braced full, spanker sheeted tight—25 miles from shore. Elissa was essentially parked, drifting at about a knot, 40 degrees or so on the downwind side of ship’s head. After supper, all hands gathered for a Joseph Conrad reading and to share personal highlights of the voyage. A time of group and personal reflection. A quiet ship, masts silhouetted against a star-filled sky.

During the mid watch, we brace around, getting underway to cross a shipping fairway, then heave to again on the other side. The watch passes quickly.

0500 and we brace the fore around again, this time to sail the final passage into Galveston. As we proceed, more and more sail is stretched. By the time we alter course to parallel the shore a mile out, everything but the gaff tops’l and main course are set.

Welcoming boats begin to arrive. By the time we round the jetty leading into the Galveston-Houston Ship Channel, dozens have joined the flotilla with more arriving as we proceed up channel.

Boat traffic increases. Ships loom large, anchored and underway. The land closes in. Buildings look down. Elissa enters the haze, her yards now bare but for crew aloft furling.

A pier head crowd shouts welcomes. Tossed heaving lines fly, hitting the pier like striking, venomous snakes. Docking lines come taut. Elissa glides softly alongside and is moored fore and aft. This voyage is done. But Elissa is already thinking of her next.

A few fun facts:
* Total Distance Traveled: 5216nm (6002 Statute Miles)
* Length of Voyage: 69 Days (8 June-15 August)
* Total Visitors Welcomed on Deck: 26,376
* Seen in Person and Through Media: Millions
* Ports Visited: 4 (Plus Anchorages in Chesapeake Bay, Key West and the Dry Tortugas)
* Number of Crew Who Sailed the Entire Voyage: 17

Over the years I’d heard much of volunteer crew training aboard Elissa, and how it set something of a gold standard. I can testify that indeed the training works. Whether having sailed aboard for days or for years, each knew their lines and what to do when ordered. Command structure from the quarterdeck through mast captains to the deck was clear. To an outsider, Elissa’s rig seems overwhelmingly complex. How to make sense of all those ropes?

There is, of course, sense and logic behind Elissa’s rigging and the procedures of use. This and much more constitutes crew training. Aboard ELISSA, her volunteer crew does indeed “learn the ropes.” The arts, skills, and ways of the sailor are also learned to be passed along. ELISSA, more than a historic preservation. A living, seagoing library sailing from 1877 and on into the future.

And now it’s time to say goodbye
Leave her, Johnny, leave her
For the old pier head’s a-drawing nigh
And it’s time for us to leave her
Leave her, Johnny, leave her
Oh, leave her, Johnny, leave her
For the voyage is done and the winds don’t blow
And it’s time for us to leave her
- Traditional Sea Chantey

Cheers,
Captain JB Smith

Photo 1 by Todd Aloft. Photos 2-5, 7-8, and 10 by JB Smith. Photo 6 by Shannon Guillot-Wright. Photo 9 by Denise Alexander.

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POSITIONING
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ELISSA at 12 noon (EDT)
Total Distance Traveled: 5164.5nm
Position: 029° 20.4’ N 094° 46.5’ W
Course: Various
Speed-Over-Ground: Ahead Slow
Weather: Clear, wind S at 5-10kts

08/17/2026

The 1892 Bishop's Palace will be closed Tuesday and Wednesday of this week while we install the final roof pieces. Photos and much more are coming soon!

08/16/2026

08/15/2026

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ELISSA Interim Executive Director's Log: 8 am, Saturday, August 15, 2026
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A NEW ERA

It would be easy to view ELISSA's return as the conclusion of an extraordinary journey. In reality, it is something much more important: the beginning of a new chapter.

For more than four decades, Galveston Historical Foundation has cared for, operated, and programmed the Official Tall Ship of Texas, preserving not simply a historic vessel, but a living connection to Galveston’s maritime history. ELISSA first visited Galveston in 1883 and today remains one of the few ships of her age anywhere in the world still actively sailing.

Over 66 days, Galveston Historic Seaport : Home of the 1877 Tall Ship Elissa traveled more than 5,000 miles and welcomed more than 25,000 guests aboard. Along the way, she made provisioning stops, festival appearances, and port visits while proudly representing GHF, Galveston Island, and the State of Texas before millions of people across the country. A remarkable undertaking for any vessel, but especially for a National Historic Landmark.

A full economic and media impact analysis is still to come, but initial estimates place the media exposure generated at more than $50 million in public relations value, establishing ELISSA as a prominent national presence during the America 250 and Sail 250 commemorations.

Numbers, however, tell only part of the story. Over the past several months, citizens from across the country have reached out with personal stories. Some were discovering the ship for the first time. Others shared memories of past visits, sailing aboard her, volunteering on her decks, or lending their time and talents to continued preservation and operation. Each story is part of this history-making moment.

The success of this voyage was built through careful stewardship, sustained investment, pivotal organizational support, dedicated volunteer crew, and a commitment to keeping ELISSA where she belongs: not simply preserved at the dock, but sailing.

This voyage would not have been possible without the skill and dedication of ELISSA’s crew contributing countless hours to prepare, sustain, and represent the ship on her Galveston 250 voyage. Behind the scenes, GHF staff coordinated logistics, planning, and operational support necessary to make an undertaking of this scale possible, with the support of members, donors, volunteers, and strategic partners.

In 2027, ELISSA will celebrate her 150th birthday. Beginning later this month, visitors can once again experience the ship through daily tours at the Galveston Historic Seaport. Special daysail series are planned for October and again next spring, leading into ELISSA’s sesquicentennial celebrations, creating more opportunities to experience this living piece of maritime history where she is most at home: on the water.

Discussions are underway for a 2028 Tall Ships Galveston event again bringing sailing vessels to the island. Future appearances at ports and maritime festivals can further expand ELISSA’s role as an ambassador for Galveston’s maritime heritage, our community and our state.

For nearly 150 years, ELISSA has survived because generations believed she was worth saving, maintaining, and sailing. Her latest voyage proved that the investment made in this remarkable ship continues to return something of lasting value: connections between generations, communities, and a maritime history that remains very much alive.

ELISSA is not just looking back at one of her greatest accomplishments. She is setting her course for the next one.

Regards,
Will Wright

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POSITIONING
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ELISSA at 12 noon (EDT)
Total Distance Traveled: All
Position: Galveston
Course: Home
Speed-Over-Ground: n/a
Weather: n/a

08/15/2026

Happy ELISSA day to all who celebrate!

08/15/2026

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ELISSA Port Captain's Log: 12 noon, Friday, August 14, 2026
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THERE AND BACK AGAIN

We are now in the last fifty miles of the 5,300 nautical miles traversed on this ten-week voyage. We’re ghosting along under fore n’ afts, fores’l, tops’ls and t’gallants, and as I type this, the mid-watch is planning to lay aloft to loose royals. Tonight, we’ll heave-to and enjoy one last “Pizza Party Friday” before making our approach early tomorrow.

In these last 48 hours, we’ve been dodging oil rigs and commercial traffic en route to the entrance buoy to the Houston Ship Channel. Almost feels like home.

With every grand adventure comes, with its close, a sense of melancholy, or even malaise, as it were, mixed with a healthy dose of reprieve, pride, and triumph. It is very hard to describe in words. We have done an amazing thing here, in every sense of the word.

One could write a book on the things we’ve seen and done, but here, in no particular order, are a handful of those things:

• Abundance of wildlife: whales, dolphins, turtles, sharks, mola mola, countless seabirds and other fishes.
• A rocket launch, a nuclear submarine, and fighter jet flyovers.
• Comets, meteor showers, dazzling constellations, and a Milky Way that cast its reflection on a black glassy ocean.
• A hurricane-force squall in New York Harbor and the “Green Flash” over the Gulf.
• Historic forts and historic cities, where our historic ship felt right at home.
• July 4th fireworks that one will *never* forget.
• Majestic sailing ships from around the world gathered together in one place.

We sailed off the dock and out of the notoriously narrow Fort Pierce Inlet. We sailed around Cape Hatteras under tops’ls and t’gallants. We sailed off of our anchor abreast of the U.S. Naval Academy. We sailed past the Statue of Liberty. We sailed into Boston Harbor with eighteen sails set. And now we are sailing back to our home.

Along this long rhumb line, our crew has sewn bonds of camaraderie, memory, and a vast sense of accomplishment. Though some temperaments are now growing a little strained, lifelong friendships were born. But now we prepare to pack our seabags and disembark the gangways for home.

As Galveston peers over the horizon, we stand our last watches together, reflecting on the miles past. ELISSA sails ever onward, carrying in her wake the dedication of her stewards, her crew, and the memories of yet another grand voyage under her keel.

Regards,
Ryan Bradfield

Photos courtesy of (Instagram).

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POSITIONING
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ELISSA at 12 noon (EDT)
Total Distance Traveled: 5257nm
Position: 28°39.07’ N, 094°24.95’W
Course: 250 °M
Speed-Over-Ground: 2.3 Knots
Weather: SE Wind @ 5-8kts, S Swell @ 1-2ft

08/14/2026

You asked for it, so we'll do it!

Limited to an edition of 250, the collected Ship's Logs will be ready for holiday 2026 delivery. Commemorate a remarkable chapter in the story of the historic Galveston Historic Seaport : Home of the 1877 Tall Ship Elissa with this official tribute to her Galveston 250 voyage. Featuring rare and memorable images from the voyage alongside the daily ship logs that captivated all of us.

Get your pre-order now at https://www.galvestonhistory.org/product/galveston-250-ships-logs.

08/14/2026

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Galveston Historical Foundation’s Chief Operating Officer’s Log: 8 AM, Friday, August 14, 2026
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I’VE BEEN EVERYWHERE...

You’ve been hearing from ELISSA’s volunteer crew, officers, and Galveston Historical Fndn. staff throughout this journey. In our log series, they’ve shared stories about life at sea. I thought it might be fun to tell you about the other side of this voyage: the decidedly less glamorous behind-the-scenes operation required to keep this historic voyage moving.

In the past six weeks, we’ve coordinated six special events and sold retail at every stop. And ELISSA hasn’t just been carrying her crew. She left Galveston loaded with eight kegs of Saint Arnold Brewing Company ELISSA beer, wine for each event from COME AND DRINK IT, personalized 250 cups, napkins, plates, Rambler water (which is now being rationed to the crew as a cold treat), and enough retail merchandise to stock a store. She’s a cargo ship, after all. And I’m a heavy packer. It was meant to be.

For the last two stops, I’ve become the unofficial ship liaison, which apparently means: If you need it on our Galveston 250 voyage, I’ll figure out how to get it in my car.

You name it, I’ve probably had it in the back of an SUV: an oven purchased in Savannah, roughly 200 pounds of ice a day, and enough food to feed 40 people three meals a day for 14 days. At this point, I can also offer personal recommendations for six different Circle Ks in Pensacola—a travel credential I did not anticipate!

You need beer? I’ve got you. A thermometer? Sure. No-smoking signs? Of course. Multiple trips to Lowe’s? Naturally. A fuel filter? Yep. A tiny trash can? Well, okay.

I’ve taken eight plane rides and two trains, become a Costco member, booked hotel rooms for crew, and basically done whatever I could to make their life at sea a little easier.

(continued in comments…)