Buffalo Bayou Late 80's An Old Wooden Ship

[torvald]

was reminiscing with someone about my father (no longer living) when

we remembered an outing we had taken in the late eighties down to

buffalo bayou downtown. there was a large boat there similar to this:

http://static.flickr.com/106/297740331_71c62fe673_m.jpg

laughable picture and is probably too fancy, but gives a general idea.

he kept joking with us that it was a viking ship and of course we didn't

believe him. it was a full sized boat with wood sides and cloth sails. i

know at the time i read an article in the chronicle (or post!) that it was

making a tour and was a recreation or restored boat of some sort.

since my friend was there, i know i'm not totally dreaming it... it was

docked, at a landing but don't know specifically where.

[dbigtex56]

Could this be it?

If so, it's the 1877 tall ship Elissa, which is docked in Galveston.

[sevfiv]

not that this is the same one, but maybe something similar

http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=1987_485847

Measuring 70 feet by 17 feet, the shallow-draft boat includes an open sun deck and an enclosed dining area that can accommodate 70 people.

A revolving paddle wheel and two smokestacks give the boat an authentic turn-of-the-century appearance, but these features are purely decorative. Diesel engines actually power the vessel.

Manning the boat will be a crew consisting of a captain, a first mate and a bartender.

The round trip will take about two hours and cost $7 per person.

Houston historian Ann Quin Wilson said the Island Queen will follow in the wake of countless ships that came up Buffalo Bayou to call on Houston after the Allen brothers founded the city in 1836. These vessels included many excursion boats that sailed the bayou between Houston and Galveston.

[RedScare]

It is hard to believe that a tall ship, similar to Elissa, could have made it all the way to say, Allen's Landing, due to the number of low slung bridges on Buffalo Bayou. McKee Street, among others, comes to mind. It could have made it to the Turning Basin fairly easily, but not much farther.

However, I am curious what it is you saw.

Of course, these boats made it not too long ago, so there is a respectable amount of clearance.

[torvald]

this was a one time thing. definitely downtown houston in the late 80's.

it was on some sort of tour and was going to more than one port in the

gulf. it may be a small ship or a scaled down version of a larger ship.

it was most similar to the ship from the illustration, yet as i think of it

probably only had 2 masts. the only photo we have from the outing,

since we weren't really interested in the ship.

obviously, she was more interested in the creepy bridge...

would a small boat like that be too much for bayou's depth? with

these ships the mast can be lowered if it's the height also a problem.

it wasn't as large as the elissa, which i have seen in person. we were

sort of unimpressed with the boat at the time, so it couldn't have been

that big.

Edited November 15, 2006 by torvald

[RedScare]

Well, that answers the question about where the ship was, since that photo is of the San Jacinto Street bridge. From the angle, it looks like you were on the north bank of Buffalo Bayou, across from Allen's Landing.

As for depth, a sailboat could probably navigate that stretch. If it was a flat bottom barge, like they used in the old days, it could easily navigate the bayou. That is what they were designed for.

[torvald]

As for depth, a sailboat could probably navigate that stretch. If it was a flat bottom barge, like they used in the old days, it could easily navigate the bayou. That is what they were designed for.

on the GHPA allen's landing tour today, the guide said it was

"as far as a larger sized vessel could reach on the bayou".

the boat was closer to a large sail boat than an elissa sized ship...