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
