Tall Ship Esmeralda

Back on December 8, 2016, Papeete was visited by the Chilean Sail Training Tall ship the Esmeralda . I had last seen her in Norfolk Virginia at the OP Sail Festival in 2000. We got the opportunity to tour the ship and she is still as elegant as I remembered.

Esmeralda is a 4 masted Barquentine, launched in 1953 and is a real Chilean Navy ship. She is 371 feet long and has a beam of 43 feet! Her mast are 159 ft tall and she carries 300 Sailors and 90 Midshipmen.

As we arrived aboard we were greeted with the bosun's whistle.

All of the bronze, capistans, bell and ports were all polished to a bright shine.

First part of the tour was the helm on the aft deck.

One of the deck hatches leads strait down to the engine room. Don't loose your grip on that ladder!!

All of the halyards, sheets and other lines were neatly coiled and hanging on belaying pins.

Mike checks out the detail of the marlinespike craftsmanship on the oars of the Captain's gig.

The tour continues as we make our way forward past yet another highly polished capistan.

This is a real working Navy ship, so they do have GPS, but they make all the midshipmen navigate by the stars and then check their work. This looks like it should be a crows nest, but it is protecting the open aray of the radar antenna. And the sign says “fight or die” which was a famous quote from one of their revolutionary heroes.

This is their Code of Arms.

They would not let me climb out on the bow sprit, so this is as close as I could get.

There is a lot of rigging on a 4 masted Barquentine!! And yes that is a real crow's nest, just above the yard arm.

The height of the masts are mesmerizing!!

Looking aft toward the bridge from the fore-deck.

This is a very heavy duty anchor windlass, so they don't have to wind up the chain on the capistan any more. (besides they might scuff the bronze!)

This Midshipman's name is Benjamin Oso (as in Benjamin Bear!) Such a cute name for such a handsome young man!!

I think this old wood cleat is just more bronze to polish.

The lower sails are gaff rigged as you can see by the rings around the mast.

Their trick welcome stand made of 3 varnished oars, marlinespike, polished bell and throw ring.

We were honored to tour this amazing ship and were very impressed with the crew members giving the tour (they spoke very good English!) Be sure to check her out if she ever comes to your harbor!