In 1877 in Aberdeen Scotland the keel was laid on a 3 masted sailing Barque and she was christened, Elissa. She is the oldest sailing vessel still in service. She now calls Galveston pier 21 as home. She had called in Galveston during her years hauling freight around the world but had eventually been converted into a Greek cigarette smuggler, caught and was to be sold for scrap.
Someone recognized her lines, contacted someone from the Galveston Historical Society and she was rescued. I was working as a cameraman for KPRC (Channel 2) in Houston and was assigned to go film (well ok by then we were shooting video tape) her being towed into the Port of Galveston and over the next few years I shot a series of stories on her complete restoration and eventually her first voyage as a fully restored and functional sailing ship. Over the years I was fortunate to get to sail on her a total of 3 times. The song “The Voyage” is the story of the Elissa but also the parallel story of my life as I was metaphorically refitting and refurbish.