The brig Lady Washington and the topsail ketch Hawaiian Chieftain, fresh from a seven-month tour of California ports, will visit Coos Bay this week.
The ships will fire a cannon salute as they pull up to the dock on Tuesday. They are scheduled to arrive in Coos Bay at approximately 2 p.m. at Coos Bay City Dock, 200 S. Bayshore Drive.
The vessels will be open educational programs and tours for the general public. Students from locals schools will learn how 18th-century mariners lived on the high seas by raising a sail, hearing sea stories and singing authentic work songs.
The crews, dressed in period costume, will welcome visits from the public from 4 to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday. A $3 donation per person is appreciated.
The ships originally were scheduled to arrive a few days earlier, but mechanical problems and poor weather conditions during visits to Eureka and Crescent City, Calif., required a schedule change.
Since it began calling on the Bay Area in 1997, the Lady Washington, a replica of a Boston-built 1750s ship that rounded Cape Horn on the first U.S. voyage to China, has become a favorite visitor to Coos Bay. In recent years the fame of the vessel, which is managed by the Grays Harbor Historical Seaport Authority, has spread beyond the South Coast and started drawing visitors from across the Coast Range, particularly after its appearance in the 2003 movie “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl,” in which, temporarily repainted, it portrayed the “HMS Interceptor.”
Built in Hawaii in 1988, the Chieftain is a replica of a turn-of-the-19th-century European merchant trader. Its sails and rigging are similar to the tall ships that sailed the West Coast more than a century ago.
This year’s visit is a brief one. The Lady Washington and Hawaiian Chieftain are scheduled to depart Coos Bay on Thursday night. All schedules are subject to change without notice.
People are asked to confirm before boarding by calling (800) 200-5239. Details about Lady Washington and Hawaiian Chieftain, including specifications, and the histories of both ships, are available at
http://www.historicalseaport.org.
For more information, those interested can call Joe Follansbee at (360) 589-0766 or e-mail
jfollansbee@historicalseaport.org
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