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.

#LettieGHoward #schooner #nationalhistoriclandmark #FredoniaSchooner #southstreetseaport #SouthStreetSeaportMuseum

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

South Street Seaport Museum

South Street Seaport Museum's schooner Lettie G Howard returned to Gloucester, Massachusetts (her original 1893 port of call) this Labor Day Weekend for the annual Gloucester Schooner Festival!

Having sailed brilliantly down from Maine with a Sailing Adventure program in collaboration with Tall Ships Portland, Maine, and teenage trainees aboard, a handful of volunteers from South Street and Gloucester joined the crew for the race weekend. The Friday and Saturday preceding, the hard-working crew practiced their sail handling and maneuvering outside of Gloucester Harbor having some competitive fun with the other schooners. Sunday's race was postponed for foul weather, and the crew and trainees took the opportunity to make a pilgrimage to Lettie's birthplace, the A.D. Story shipyard, now the Essex Shipbuilding Museum.

The weather cleared up for great racing conditions on Monday and Lettie took off charging from the start line faster than any other boat in her class. As the wind laid down for a short while at the halfway mark, some other schooners were able to catch up and take the lead, and at the end, Lettie finished in third place for the famed Esperanto Cup this year.

While a first place finish would have been amazing, the crew relished in praise and admiration from the residents of Gloucester and the crews of the other schooners, who have said they haven't seen the ship in such great shape and sailing so well in many years. Congratulations to the tireless crew, both on board and ashore, who work to keep this National Historic Landmark schooner sailing, and thank you to Maritime Gloucester for your hospitality!

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.

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

Did you know that you can do week-long sailing adventures out of New York Harbor aboard one of our historic ships? The National Historic Landmark schooner Lettie G Howard is a sailing school vessel, where participants can learn how to sail a traditional tall ship.
Lettie G. Howard is one of few surviving examples of the fishing schooners once widely used in the North Atlantic. After an active life in the fisheries of the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, Lettie arrived at South Street Seaport Museum in 1968.

Sailing Adventures are designed for rising students entering grades 10 - 12. Check them out on the 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 Paul White, @perpetualfootsteps on Instagram.
Paul captured a great shot of us during the Connecticut Maritime Festival parade of sail.

09/26/2016

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.

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.

09/20/2016

South Street Seaport Museum

On this day in 1968, our National Historic Landmark schooner Lettie G Howard found a home at South Street!

Lettie is the last surviving "Fredonia model" fishing schooner, a type of fisherman once widely used along the Atlantic seaboard from Maine to Texas. She was built in 1893 in Essex, Massachusetts, where the majority of the schooners for the fishing fleets of Gloucester, Boston, and New York were built. Beginning in 1901 she worked in the Gulf of Mexico, and in 1923 she was rebuilt and renamed Mystic C., after her new owner's hometown.

When Lettie arrived at the Seaport she was originally thought to be a boat named "Caviare" but subsequent research revealed her true origins. The Historic Ships Association purchased her in 1966, believing her to be "Caviare." In 1968 she was sold to the Seaport Museum, after some years and much research later, she was properly renamed Lettie G. Howard.

Between 1991 and 1993 the Museum extensively rebuilt and restored her to her original 1893 appearance. She was the first vessel to be restored to the new Secretary of the Interior’s Standard. Originally outfitted for fishing, she is now a certificated Sailing School Vessel, which allows her to sail with students of all ages on educational voyages. During her time with the Museum she has voyaged as far as Venezuela with students on board!

Photo by Mark Krasnow Photography during this past 2016 Gloucester Schooner Festival.

09/13/2016

Gloucester Schooner Festival

Photos by Len Burgess

09/09/2016

Connecticut Maritime Festival

09/09/2016

Gloucester Schooner Festival

Gloucester Schooner Festival

WOW!!! Great photos of the Schooner Festival Race by David Cox.
https://goodmorninggloucester.wordpress.com/2016/09/08/schooner-festival-2016/

09/07/2016

Gloucester Schooner Festival

09/07/2016

Drone Video - 2016 Gloucester Schooner Festival Parade of Sail

Drone Video - 2016 Gloucester Schooner Festival Parade of Sail

09/07/2016

Awards ceremony, 2nd place trophy

Schooner Lettie G. Howard receives 3rd place in the Esperanto Cup.

09/06/2016

Schooner Adventure

09/06/2016

Schooner Adventure

09/06/2016

Schooner Adventure

09/06/2016

Schooner Adventure

09/06/2016

Schooner Adventure

Letty G Howard along side the Adventure before the Parade of Sails

09/06/2016

Katherine Richmond Photography

Gloucester Schooner Festival: Sunday September 4th at 1PM off the coast of Gloucester Mass. The Mayor's Race, Esperanto Cup, different sizes, and different classes of competiion. Seas 4+ NE Winds 15-18 Knots (Prints available. Licensing available for commercial usage. Traditional Artists wanting to make interpretations of my photographs please contact me for written copyright approval. All rights reserved.) Thanks for viewing my work! Cheers!

09/06/2016

Gloucester Schooner Festival

Schooner Captains at the Schooner Parade and Race meeting Sunday Morning. Photo -Len Burgess

09/06/2016

Gloucester Schooner Festival and Race 2016

09/02/2016

LETTIE arrived in Gloucester Harbor last night and spent the evening and this morning at anchor. This afternoon we hauled back the anchor and went sailing around with other schooners and are now alongside ADVENTURE at the State Fish Pier.

08/29/2016

LETTIE G. HOWARD is underway in Long Island Sound and bound for Gloucester!

We will be participating in the Gloucester Schooner Festival and schooner race as one of the last remaining vessels that fished out of Gloucester before the sailing fleet was made obsolete. We are excited to have the opportunity to participate in the festival and help bring some of Gloucester's rich maritime heritage back to the citizens of Gloucester.

08/08/2016

Join Lettie as crew-in-training (no experience necessary!) on her annual voyage to her home waters of Gloucester, Massachusetts and take part in the Gloucester Schooner Festival and Race!

Following the race Lettie and crew will set sail for the New London CT Maritime Heritage Festival in New London, Connecticut. This is a rare and exciting opportunity to join Lettie's professional crew as a watch-standing crew member in training. Raise and handle sail, take the helm, help to chart a course, and learn the unique skills of a traditional mariner.

For more information click here: https://goo.gl/SfCtrc

07/16/2016

Yesterday marked the end of the first Seafarer's Camp this year; this six day trip included fantastic trainees, amazing sailing, beautiful anchorages, and great memories and experiences for both trainees and crew. The trainees got a lot of experience steering under sail, anchoring, and navigating. We are thrilled to have gotten this opportunity to work with such an attentive and enthusiastic group of trainees and look forward to being able to share such unique experiences with many more trainees this season.

07/12/2016

Lettie G Howard didn't catch tonight #Manhattanhenge, but bumped into a sensational sunset at Block Island, RI!
#sailtraining #seafarerlife

06/21/2016

We had some amazing sailing on Sunday and Monday with a fantastic group of students from New York Harbor School! The students came aboard with individual goals for the trip (such as getting better at steering under sail), and those goals were well accomplished by all despite having a short trip.

We are back alongside lightship AMBROSE, at South Street Seaport Museum, and will be getting lots of work done on the boat between now and our next student program.

06/09/2016

Hōkūleʻa Hospitality Sail 2016

A delegation from Hokulea Crew, the Polynesian Voyaging Society, and the Waterfront Alliance recently sailed on Lettie. We shared the history of New York Harbor and the tradition of the maritime culture. It was a wonderful exchange experience!

After traveling up the east coast of the Americas, traditional voyaging canoe Hōkūleʻa has arrived in New York City! To share the traditions of sail, members of the Waterfront Alliance, New York Harbor School, the South Street Seaport Museum, and the Polynesian Voyaging Society came together to crew...

05/13/2016

LETTIE's crew has been working hard all winter and spring to prepare her for this year's sailing season, and tomorrow is our first trip of the year!

After doing maintenance all winter and getting the ship ready and rigged, LETTIE and her crew will finally be able to get back to what they do best: teaching and inspiring students with the lessons and experiences that can be found only on traditionally rigged sailing vessels.