The Maritime Studies Program at Texas A&M University at Galveston is partnering with the Galveston Historical Foundation and the Texas Seaport Museum to create a new "Freshman Experience" program aimed at creating an exciting and engaging first semester experience for new students. The program combines several popular academic subjects (maritime history, nautical archaeology, anthropology, and literature) with sailing training onboard Elissa, the Official Tall Ship of Texas.
Elissa is a three-masted, iron-hulled sailing ship built in 1877 in Aberdeen, Scotland by Alexander Hall & Company. She carries nineteen sails covering over one-quarter of an acre in surface area. Elissa is a 'barque' because she carries square and fore-and-aft sails on her fore and mainmasts, but only fore-and-aft sails on her mizzenmast. From her stern to the tip of her jibboom she measures 205 feet. Her height is 99 feet, 9 inches at the main mast and she displaces about 620 tons at her current ballast.
The first class of incoming freshmen to participate in the program will be those admitted to the University in the Fall of 2008. Current MAST students will be given a chance to participate as well.