For a Texas maritime lawyer, it is a rare pleasure to write about a ship not because someone was hurt, but because a piece of living history sailed north and did exactly what she was built to do — under wind, under canvas, under a trained hand.

On the sunny morning of July 4, 2026, the largest gathering of tall ships in modern American history glided beneath the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, up New York Harbor, and past the Statue of Liberty. At the head of that towering procession — white sails stretched across the Hudson River like a moving forest — sailed a familiar barque from our own stretch of coast: the T/S Elissa, the Official Tall Ship of Texas, home-ported in Galveston.

As part of Sail4th 250 (the maritime centerpiece of the national America250 semiquincentennial celebrations), the T/S Elissa led fellow Class A tall ships into the harbor before millions of spectators lining fifteen miles of waterfront. She was the oldest vessel in the fleet, and the only one flying the Lone Star. For a Texan with saltwater in his blood, it was a moment worth savoring.

The Oldest Hull in the Fleet

The T/S Elissa is not a replica, a reconstruction, or a themed attraction. She is the real article. Built in 1877 at the shipyard of Alexander Hall & Company in Aberdeen, Scotland, she is a three-masted, iron-hulled barque who spent roughly ninety years hauling cargo — (such as cotton and bananas) to ports all around the world, calling at Galveston herself in the 1880s.

 

She might have been lost entirely. By the early 1960s she lay rusting in a scrapyard near Piraeus, Greece, until the nautical archaeologist Peter Throckmorton found her and alerted maritime history enthusiasts local to Galveston. The Galveston Historical Foundation (GHF) eventually purchased her in the mid-1970s and, with years of labor and millions of dollars spent, brought her back to life. Today, she is a National Historic Landmark, and one of only a handful of authentic nineteenth-century square-riggers still actively sailing.

For the engineering- and craft-minded among us, the numbers are remarkable: some 205 feet from stern to the tip of her jibboom, a mainmast standing nearly 100 feet above the deck, and roughly nineteen sails covering more than a quarter-acre of canvas. She is worked the old way, by a crew of about forty, including a a handful of paid officers and dozens of rigorously trained volunteers carefully vetted through the GHF, all who put their lives on hold to make the one-of-a-kind voyage.

A Passage Forty Years in the Making

The T/S Elissa had not sailed New York waters since 1986, when she joined Operation Sail for the Statue of Liberty’s centennial. Her return for the nation’s 250th places her in a very short company of vessels present at both landmark celebrations — four decades apart, the same ship, the same harbor, the same lady in the water lifting her lamp.

The journey north was no small undertaking: roughly 2,500 miles, her longest voyage in decades, as the opening leg of a three-month, multi-port tour that also carries her to Boston, Savannah, and Pensacola before she turns home for Galveston. 

There is a symbolic symmetry in Galveston sending the ship: long before Ellis Island became the nation’s gateway, thousands of immigrants first set foot in America through the Port of Galveston. A vessel from that immigrant port, saluting the very monument standing for welcome and opportunity, is history rhyming with itself.

See Her Under Sail

Words do the T/S Elissa only so much justice. If you missed the parade, watch the flotilla sweep up the harbor and past the Statue of Liberty — the T/S Elissa out front — in FOX 5 New York’s coverage below.

Better still, go see her in person. After New York, the GHF is running free public deck tours and sunset sails at her ports of call, and back home she keeps her berth at the Texas Seaport Museum at Pier 21 in Galveston, welcoming tens of thousands of visitors a year. Standing on her deck under her sails will help you experience maritime history in a way no textbook can convey.

Why a Maritime Lawyer Cares

Most of my writing concerns the water at its most dangerous — collisions, sinkings, accidents, mariners injured and killed — along with the laws that govern it; today, this is a happier subject, but a very relevant one. The T/S Elissa is a reminder of what draws so many of us to the sea in the first place: the seamanship, the engineering, the discipline, and the extraordinary human story of bold nautical exploration.

The same traditions of careful stewardship, proper training, and respect for the vessel that keep a 149-year-old barque safely under sail are, in the end, the traditions that keep every mariner safe. When they are honored, ships like the T/S Elissa can lead parades and celebrate centuries of American maritime pride and ingenuity. But when they are neglected, my other work begins. 

So today, we wish fair winds to her, and to her crew, all the way home to Galveston!

We at the Herd Law Firm are proud to fight for seamen, maritime workers and passengers in all types of personal injury and death claims. As maritime personal injury attorneys (and sailors ourselves!) located in northwest Houston, we never waver in our commitment to help these maritime workers, passengers, and their families when they are injured or mistreated.

Sources

  1. Galveston Historical Foundation. “Texas’ Legendary 1877 Tall Ship ELISSA Joins Sail250 Voyage to New York Harbor” (press release), June 2026. https://www.galvestonhistory.org/
  2. Greineisen, Corey. “From Galveston to New York: Elissa carries Texas history into America’s 250th celebration.” The Galveston County Daily News, July 2026. https://www.galvnews.com/news/from-galveston-to-new-york-elissa-carries-texas-history-into-americas-250th-celebration/article_a1210e19-db1f-4145-a8b4-22cf9a28d958.html
  3. Greineisen, Corey. “Beyond New York: Elissa’s historic voyage continues.” The Galveston County Daily News, July 2026. https://www.galvnews.com/news/beyond-new-york-elissas-historic-voyage-continues/article_748e8cfd-aa7b-4dc2-8e88-5ef8e61ab895.html
  4. Davenport, Emily. “America 250: Tall Ship Elissa to dock in Brooklyn for July 4 parade.” amNewYork, June 2026. https://www.amny.com/news/america-250-tall-ship-elissa-dock-brooklyn-july-4-parade/
  5. Stallone, Michael. “NYC July 4th Parade of Ships in Hudson River for America250” (with parade video). FOX 5 New York, July 4, 2026. https://www.fox5ny.com/news/nyc-parade-tall-ships-hudson-river-july-4th-america250-new-york-city-watch
  6. Ward, William A. “Elissa.” Handbook of Texas Online, Texas State Historical Association. https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/elissa
  7. Sail4th 250. “Tall Ships” and “What’s Happening.” Official event site, 2026. https://sail4th.org/tall-ships
  8. Visit Galveston. “Galveston250: ELISSA Tall Ship Celebrates America’s 250th.” 2026. https://www.visitgalveston.com/galveston250/