SailBoston 2026 - Tall Ships - July 12, 2026
A whole lot of tall ships came into Boston on July 11th, so we went down to the waterfront to see them the next day (when they were docked, and you could go on them). (I would have liked to see the parade of ships the day before, but I felt like the crowds would be too much. Even on Sunday, there were A Lot of People.)
We knew we wouldn't make it to all of them (they were docked at three locations on the harbor, quite spread out), so we chose Charlestown, where the USS Constitution is usually docked. (Above, top photo.). The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Eagle was docked on the same pier as the Constitution (above, bottom photo); more on her later.
(Photo IDs may be seen in the captions below each photo set.)
Bit of a view of the harbor, looking east. In the foreground, the schooner Thomas E. Lannon. In the background at right, the schooner Fame (day sails available!).
A better look at the schooner Fame.
Several schooners at dock, all of which seemed to be taking folks out for day sails. Foreground, the Hindu. Next to/beyond her, the American Eagle. To the left, near side, I think was actually a modern private yacht. To the left, far side, was the Liberty Clipper.
Middle, a family of mallard ducks bobbing around amongst the ships (you can see them in the left photo too if you look closely.). To the right, the white ship is the Adirondack II, while the sailboat at right is private.
(Above, the Music City Queen paddleboat.) The day was gorgeous. After some terrible heat the week before, we had low 80s and low humidity, not a cloud in the sky, and a lovely brisk breeze off the water. It was still hot walking around in the sun, but at least we weren't dying. Still, the best part of the day was when we found a little corner of the harborwalk that few people knew about, and that had benches. We must have sat there for nearly an hour, just watching all the ships and boats go by.
While the biggest tall ships were docked, there was clearly a small parade of boats following a prescribed circuit of the harbor, so that people could go see the tall ships from the water. It was a parade of private boats of all sizes and types (including one stand-up paddleboarder who we feared was taking his life into his hands), and sight-seeing boats that were taking crowds of people around. (Plus the historic schooners mentioned above, that take people out for day sails all the time.)
The Music City Queen stern paddlewheeler above is one such, normally a party boat, but in service as a sightseer that day.
Above, at left, the Liberty Clipper takes out a bunch of sightseers. At right, in the background the Appledore IV is raising sails, and in the foreground is the Lewis H. Story..
At left, the Appledore IV under full sail (and can I just say, it was a delight to see so many of these smaller ships flying the Progress Pride flag). Middle foreground (and at right), the Cutter Bloodhound.
Nice view of the Appledore IV's sails catching the wind.
We counted at least three working lobster boats joining the sightseeing parade. The Sandi here was my favorite -- the wonderfully weathered green hull, and that lobster on the prow! What a beaut!
The lines to get on ANY of the ships were ridiculous, but at the end of the day, we decided to try to go onto the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Eagle. (Which is, in fact a barque.). Above left, the Eagle's figurehead, and in the background, the schooner Isabella. At right, the Eagle's helm. I don't really know why there are three wheels all in a row like this, but interestingly, they were clearly the originals, because the brass facing on them had writing in German.
So, things I did not know before this tour: what is now the Eagle was built in the 1930s, as one of five sister ships, by the Nazis. One of the original five appears never to have been completed (it was then damaged in a bomb raid in the war, and scuttled). After the war, the other four were taken by various Allies as reparations. (i.e. they were not captured in battle.). The Eagle was originally the Horst Wessell, and you can still see that name on the triple wheels above.
All four remaining sister ships were participating in Sail Boston (and the rest of the stops). Besides the Eagle, they are: the Mircea (Romania), the Sangres (Portugal), and the Gorch Fock (Germany).
Wait, you may say... Germany was NOT one of the Allies in WWII. Yes, the original Gorch Fock (the first of the five built) was taken by the USSR, and renamed the Tovarishch. When the USSR dissolved in 1991, the Tovarishch sailed under the Ukrainian flag, but she needed heavy repairs/restoration, and it wasn't until 1999 that the funds were raised for it. What I've found so far is unclear on why the ship was transferred to German ownership in 1999; she was rechristened the Gorch Fock in 2003. (I'm sure this will make more sense if I look into it in depth.). She was docked in Stralsund, Germany, as a museum ship, until restoration was finally completed in 2024. Does that mean she's going to sail again?
(So, if you are counting, the original five were the Gorch Fock-Tovarishch-Gorch Fock, the Eagle, the Mircea, the Sangres, and the never-completed Herbert Norkus, now destroyed. The original Gorch Fock was at dock as a museum until being repaired quite recently, and a second Gorch Fock was built by Germany on the same plan, making it another sister ship.)
At any rate, the Gorch Fock II, participating here, was a replacement built by Germany in 1958. All four of these ships serve as training ships in the respective navies (or in the U.S. case, Coast Guard) of their countries.
A look up at the Eagle's masts and rigging.
Anyway, the other fun bit of trivia about the four sister ships: in 1976, they held the Five Sisters Cup Race between New York city and Boston, while touring ports for the U.S. Bicentenniel. The Gorch Fock won, and has been in possession of the cup ever since. This year, as the tall ships moved from New York to Boston, they held the race again. And the Gorch Fock won again, beating the Eagle in second place by 38 minutes.
These are NOT my photos, but to round this off:
Above video still from WCVB Boston. They were said to be lining up the four ships before the start of the race, to get a shot of all four, but I can't (yet) find what looks like a glamor shot of them. Above, seen from the Eagle, are the Sangres, then the Mircea, then the Gorch Fock.
And the above is a pretty cool shot of the four of them, from a Romanian website. But I can only identify the Eagle (top right).
Really fun day! Wish we could have gotten over to the other two locations to see some of the other ships -- like the Amerigo Vespucci (of "You are the most beautiful ship in the world" fame), the Kalmar Nyckel (recreation of a 17th c. Dutch Pinnace), and the Mayflower II, which they sailed up from Plymouth (first time since its restoration, I think). (Of course, I can go see the Mayflower II any time.)
So many ships, so little time. But you don't see them all together like this all that often.
