Gulf Copper Dry Dock and Rig Repair Welcomes Tall Ships Challenge

This April the Galveston Historical Society facilitated the Tall Ships Challenge® Gulf Coast 2018 Series in the Port of Galveston. While it was not exactly a time-warp back to the days of wooden ships and men of steel, the ambience in Galveston Harbor made it easy to imagine you were transported to the late 1800’s. All ships  arrived in the port on April 4th, with the schooner Oostershelde sailing into Bolivar early afternoon with the wind at her back as she swooped past the Stolt Tanker, Stolt Quetzal, and dropped her anchor in Bolivar Roads. The visual of a modern parcel tanker adjacent to a historic schooner in the same anchorage was not lost on me. Galveston is steeped in maritime history and culture. While we are reminiscing about tall sailing ships, I am not lost on the fact that the first chemical parcel tanker was converted at the shipyard less than four nautical miles from this anchorage for Jacob Stolt-Nielsen, founder of Stolt-Nielsen Limited, the premier chemical tanker owner. The first parcel tanker was named the Stolt Avance and was converted from a oil tanker in 1959 into a segregated parcel tanker at the shipyard currently operating as Gulf Copper Dry Dock and Rig Repair. The Stolt Avance obviously did not have sails, but she has a place in Galveston History.

Altogether there were six (6) sailing ships participating in the Tall Ships Challenge.  The Lynx, the When and If, the Oosterschelde, the STS Picton Castle, the Oliver Hazard Perry, and Galveston’s own Elissa. Thursday afternoon the fleet of sailing ships mustered in the waters off the west jetty at Bolivar entrance. Together with a bevy of private yachts, the ships performed a  “Parade of Sails”  from the Bolivar west jetty down the Galveston sea wall to 35th street and back again, with the three masted schooner Oosterschelde showing off her sleek lines and skilled crew by circling the other three masted barques and the two smaller schooners.

Later in the afternoon the sailing ships returned to safe berth in various locations in Galveston Harbor. The Lynx and the When and If berthing at Texas A&M Maritime Academy at the western end of Galveston Harbor. The Elissa was berthed near her own berth at pier 21 and the Oliver Hazard Perry, the Oosterschelde and the Picton Castle all berthed at pier 20 near the Ocean Star Offshore Drilling Rig Museum and Education Center. Water taxis were busy all weekend transporting the many curious visitors between berths and around the active port to see the tall ships and the variety of terminals, ships and rigs in picturesque Galveston Harbor.

The video below is time lapse recording of the fleet of sailing vessels returning to Galveston Harbor after a mid day parade offshore of the infamous Galveston Seawall.

At the end of the weekend, there was a fireworks show in Galveston Harbor commemorating the first Tall Ship event in Galveston, with the backdrop of  Gulf Copper Dry Dock and Rig Repair and the tall derricks of modern deepwater drill rigs. It was a spectacular weekend and we are looking forward to the return of the Tall Ships to Galveston Harbor in the not-too-distant future.

The Tall Ships Challenge® Gulf Coast 2018 Series docked in Galveston April 5-8,  in Pensacola April 12-15 and finished in New Orleans April 19-22. The ships will now make their way to Philadelphia for an International Tall Ships event over Memorial Day.

Founded in 1948, Gulf Copper & Manufacturing Inc,, an employee-owned company, repairs and refurbishes marine vessels and offshore rigs and fabricates ancillary components for marine, offshore, subsea and alternative energy markets . The company operates strategically located shipyards, dry-docks and fabrication facilities along the U.S. Gulf Coast. Gulf Copper serves the oil and gas, drilling, and marine transportation markets in addition to the United States government.
GC Energy Services is a division of Gulf Copper. GC Energy Services provides global project support with structural welding, high pressure and low pressure pipe welding, SS welding and passivation, electrical services, scaffolding, non-destructive testing services (NDT), quality assurance services, inspections, and rope access technicians.

Be safe in all that you do,

Leonard Hale PMP