USCG Barque ‘Eagle’ Update
According to the published schedule, the barque Eagle is sailing into San Francisco Bay on June 25. She recently docked in Portland, Oregon, to take part in Fleet Week and the Rose Festival, and this weekend will be in Astoria, Oregon. Her schedule is, of course, subject to change, but in the meantime we thought we’d share a little technical information.
The Eagle is a 295-ft, three-masted barque used as a training vessel for future officers of the United States Coast Guard. She is known as “America’s Tall Ship,” — the largest tall ship flying the Stars and Stripes and the only active square-rigger in US government service.
Here are her stats:
- Length of Eagle: 295 ft. (roughly equivalent to a football field)
- Number of sails: 23
- Sail area: 22,227 sq. ft.
- Tallest mast: 150 ft. (roughly equivalent to a 15-story building)
- Length of rigging: six miles
- Working crew: 55
- Maximum people capacity: 239
- Weight: 1,655 tons (Eagle’s hull and decks are made of steel)
- Speed under sail: 17 knots (20 mph)
- Speed under power: 10 knots (11 mph)
- Gallons of fuel oil: 24,215
- Weight of anchors: 3,860 lbs.
We’ve read that lines to tour the ship can get long. So plan to go early. According to KATU News there is a 2 p.m. cutoff for entry, and people 18 and older will need a Real ID or passport.
Stay tuned for more announcements closer to the date.
Keep the updates coming. Want to be under the GGBR when she arrives!
I served on the Eagle in 1965 while I was on active duty in the Coast Guard. The Eagle is the only designated “Tall Ship” among all the ships in the American military services. It was a great adventure to be on board. I was part of a crew of enlisted men (not Coast Guard Academy cadets) sailing her from San Francisco back to the Academy in New London, CT. I highly recommend taking a guided tour of her if you will be near any port she visits on this RARE trip to the American west coast. She is a class act, with her main deck of almost a football field long made entirely of TEAKWOOD!