Lettie G Howard

04/19/2018

Lettie G. Howard’s plans for travel to Erie, PA are now finalized. Originally, the plan was to take her through the Erie Canal, which would require unstepping masts and steaming the majority of the trip. It’s likely that the Erie Canal will be open late this year because of ice, which would mean a late arrival in Erie. That inland voyage also limits the ability of the oncoming crew to really get to know Lettie.

Instead, Lettie will make the voyage “outside” via Long Island Sound, Buzzards Bay, the Gulf of Maine, and the St. Lawrence Seaway. This voyage will be an excellent opportunity to stretch her legs and to fully acquaint her new mates and masters with her sailing abilities. We expect to leave the first week in May and to take about 20 days to complete the 2,000 mile voyage.

Images: Flagship Niagara League crew and volunteers working with South Street Seaport Museum's volunteers to uprig Lettie last Saturday, April 14, 2018.

02/01/2018

The South Street Seaport Museum is pleased to announce an exciting new program opportunity for our beloved schooner Lettie G Howard - later in 2018 she will voyage to Lake Erie, embarking on an 2018-2019 programmatic collaboration with U.S. Brig Niagara and the Erie Maritime Museum.

In May, Lettie will voyage via the Erie Canal—expanding the Seaport Museum’s celebration of the Canal’s bicentennial—and offer regular programming out of Erie, PA. In Erie, Lettie will offer day programs to the community, school groups, and museum visitors, while Niagara makes her training voyages within the Great Lakes. In 2019, a semester program is planned in which Lettie will voyage south along the Atlantic Coast to the Caribbean Sea with high school students.

Combining their efforts, the two museums will offer programming aboard Lettie both in Lake Erie and in the Atlantic and Caribbean. She will be back at South Street periodically during these voyages, and will have regular opportunities for our volunteers and members to sail aboard. Stay tuned as these opportunities are developed.

Continuing Lettie’s voyaging program and joining forces with our partners in Erie is a win for both organizations and for the vessel. As the Seaport Museum focuses its efforts on repairs from Hurricane Sandy, restoration of the lightship Ambrose, full activation of the ship Wavertree, and capital projects to bring the Museum back to full public access, Lettie will be actively sharing our mission in Lake Erie and the Atlantic Basin. Upon her return to South Street, she will once again offer her renowned and award-winning programming in New York and farther afield.

This collaboration is one of two important initiatives South Street Seaport Museum will undertake in 2018 related to the Erie Canal Bicentennial, each of which will have one of our vessels voyaging in the Erie Canal corridor. The 1930 tug W.O. Decker will embark on a four-month voyage in collaboration with the Corning Museum of Glass, celebrating 200 years of the Erie Canal and 150 years of glassmaking at Corning, NY. Expect Decker back at South Street in September.

09/06/2017

09/01/2017

A memorable look back to this summer in Narragansett Bay where Lettie G. Howard had been sailing for three weeks in a collaborative sail training program with S.A.L.T.Y. (Seamanship and Leadership Training for Youths) and the Rhode Island National Guard. The program, called Gold Star Teens, is specifically for teenagers from the USA and the UK who have lost an immediate family member in combat. While the teens share that common bond, they became immersed in a challenging environment and learned to take care of the ship and each other while developing new skills such as sailing, navigating, marlinespike seamanship, small boat handling, and more. At the end, the teens and crew went through a few hardships and many joys, finding themselves enriched and accomplished in a way rarely found these days.

07/14/2017

Lettie G. Howard has just returned back to South Street Seaport Museum from another amazing five-day Sailing Adventure program, which took the crew and trainees all over Long Island Sound and back, taking them out of the ordinary and experiencing the extraordinary!

06/27/2017

Sailing Adventures are designed for rising students entering grades 10 - 12. Check them out on the South Street Seaport Museum’s website! goo.gl/YzKZg9

11/06/2016

Last Saturday and yesterday we had a lot of help from volunteers with building the framing for LETTIE's winter cover. This is an important step in getting the ship ready for winter, as it will allow work to happen on deck out of the wind and snow. Thank you to all who showed up to help with this important task!

10/16/2016

Yesterday the crew and volunteers got the main topmast down to deck before lunch and after lunch floated the spar over to the Pier. All of LETTIE's spars, save for the main boom, were loaded in to WAVERTREE for the winter, and we doubled up all of LETTIE's dock lines in preparation for winter.

A huge thanks to the volunteers who helped out yesterday. We really could not have done it without you! As the sailing season is done for us, we will be back to working on Saturdays, so if you couldn't make it down to help yesterday there will be more opportunities to help out on LETTIE.

10/14/2016

The crew spent the day continuing with downrigging and getting the ship ready for winter maintenance. Tomorrow we will be sending down the main topmast and we NEED THE HELP OF OUR VOLUNTEERS to make it happen.

Keeping with tradition, we use only the lines, blocks, and windless that we have on the vessel to help bring the topmast down. This is an interesting and exciting process and a great opportunity to learn more about rigging and moving heavy things around.

We will be mustering at 0900 on WAVERTREE, so come on down and help bring the topmast down!

10/08/2016

What a productive day we had today! We got the mains'l unbent and stowed; and downrigged and floated over to the Pier the jumbo club, fore boom and gaff, and main gaff.

We are downrigging at a quick pace and should be taking the main topmast down next Saturday, for those volunteers interested to see how we take down spars from aloft with just the gear we have on the vessel.

A big thanks to the volunteers who broke off from their other projects to help us move our massive mains'l. We are back to working for volunteer Saturdays, so come on down and get (re)acquainted with this fantastic schooner!

09/26/2016

Photo by Director of Historic Ships, Jesse Lebovics.

On Saturday WAVERTREE was welcomed back after an extensive restoration to South Street Seaport Museum with great ceremony and fanfare. LETTIE had a group of freshmen from New York Harbor School who got to be part of this historic event by helping maneuver LETTIE before, during, and after the parade. We are glad to have WAVERTREE back at South Street and are looking forward to sharing her with New Yorkers and tourists alike.

All photos, except where noted, were taken by LETTIE's bosun, Lisa Kolibabek.