Tall Ship ELISSA Figurehead - Galveston, TX
Posted by: 
jhuoni
N 29° 18.222 W 094° 46.942
15R E 326893 N 3242952
This sculptors rendition of the figurehead of the Elissa can be found in the front yard at 1409 Sealy Street.
Waymark Code: WMT7PW
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 10/10/2016
Views: 3
When the ship was restored in the early 1980s, she was lacking a figurehead. Eli Kuslansky, a sculptor and woodcarver was hired. Two different women were used as the model. From Kurt Voss’ Galveston’s the Elissa:: The Tall Ship of Texas, “As a tribute to the generous support of the Moody Foundation, the face of the sculpture was styled in the likeness of a young Mary Moody Northen.” The life model for the rest of the figurehead was a part-time rigger and cadet at Texas A&M Maritime Academy, Amy McAllister.
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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. Tall ships are classified by the configuration of their sailing rig. In Elissa’s case, she 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. But, she is much more than iron, wood and canvas…
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