Op-Sail Anchorage

We depart New York's South Street Seaport, leaving the Museum's fleet of historic ships at the pier, and head for the anchorage of those Tall Ships participating in OpSail 2012.

Tall Ships at anchor in Lower New York Bay beyond the Verrazano Narrows Bridge.

KRI Dewaruci is a Class A tall ship and the only barquentine owned and operated by the Indonesian Navy. She is used as a sail training vessel for naval cadets. Built in Germany, construction of the Dewaruchi began in 1932, but was suspended due to the outbreak of WWII. She was finally completed in 1952 and launched in 1953. Her name and figurehead represent and display the mythological Indonesian god of truth and courage. (The former Coney Island Parachute Jump is in the background.

Dewaruci, Cuauhtemoc of Mexico, and Cisne Branco of Brazil.

Guayas

Dewaruci

Angel Figurehead on Gloria. Glittering in gold-leaf, the figurehead is called Maria Salud, reputedly after the sculptor's daughter.

Gloria with Verrazano Narrows Bridge in the background.

Evening falls on Raritan Bay.

The Juan Sebastian de Elcano was built in 1927 in Spain and is a training ship for the Royal Spanish Navy. She is a four-masted topsail, steel-hulled schooner. At 370 feet long, she is the third largest Tall Ship in the world. She is named after a captain of Magellan's last exploratory fleet, Juan Sebastian Elcano. She carries a coat of arms which was granted to the family by Emperor Charles I following Elcano's return in 1522 from Magellan's global expedition. The coat of arms is a terraqueous globe which carries the motto "Primus Circumdedisti Me" ("First to circumnavigate me").

We're told that the small boat activity is all the ship captains being ferried to a dinner meeting aboard the Juan Sebastian de Elcano. The aromas coming from the galley are mouth-watering!

Coney Island Light is the white tower roughly in the middle of the photo. It's still operational.

The illuminated Verrazano as we head back to the Seaport.