Ship profile for the sailing ship: "Gazela of Philadelphia"

Technical data of the sailing ship:

Name:Gazela of Philadelphia
Ex-names:Gazela Primeiro
Registered port:Philadelphia
Nation:USA
Type of rigging:BARKENTINE
Year built:1883
Yard:In Cacilhas, Portugal
Overall length:54.00 m
Length (hull):47.40 m
Breadth:8.20 m
Draught:5.20 m
Sail area:828 m2
Ship's hull:Holz / Wood
Power:180 PS
Engine:Mannheim Diesel

Portrait of the sailing ship:

Last update: 30 Dec 1999

  • one of the oldest still sailing wooden square riggers of the world
  • built 1883 in Portugal as a sailing trade vessel for European waters
  • 1900 purchased by the Bensaude family and converted to a fishing boat carriing dories, used in the Grand Banks (Newfoundland) fishing cod with about 35 dories for the next 70 years
  • in the 1930s refitted to sail in the Arctic Circle between Greenland and the Baffin Island (new engine in 1938)
  • new pilot house in 1958 to safe the crew from being swept from the deck by boarding seas
  • last fishing trip in 1969, purchased and donated to the Philadelphia Maritime Museum in 1970, left Europe for the USA in 1971
  • used as a static museum in Philadelphia for the next 4 years
  • 1975 refitted to make the ship seaworthy as a training ship and sailing museum
  • participated the Operation Sail 1976 and the Statue of Liberty celebrations in New York 1982, several sail training cruises until 1983
  • extensive restoration in 1983-84, after that one of the longest voyages since leaving the cod fleet via Boston, Portland, Bath, Halifax, Lunenburg, Prince Edward Island, Gaspe, Quebec City, New London, Baltimore, Annapolis
  • today she is a sail training ship as well as a living museum and good-will ambassador for the international seaport of Philadelphia
  • 1992 sailed to New York and later on to New England, Baltimore and Bristol (Pennsylvania)
  • film career 1993 when she was filmed for "Interview with a Vampire" and as a featured tall-ship in a PBS Documentary "The Irish in America, the long journey home" in 1998
  • sailed to Nova Scotia to take part in making of the French film "La Veuve du St. Pierre" (The widow of St. Pierre) in 1999
  • sailed to San Juan, Puerto Rico and sic cities on the U.S. East coast as part of OpSail 2000

Last tracked position of the ship:

Map provided by FleetMon.com

Last tracked position of the ship Gazela of Philadelphia

Contact:

Website (English/portugueis, 22 Feb 2003):
http://www.gazela.org/
Gazela of Philadelphia: general info, specification, history, photos and contact address

Literature for further reading:

We recommend the following references for your further research of the ship. The references marked with have been included in the generation of the ship profile on this page.

Otmar Schäuffelen
"Die letzten grossen Segelschiffe"
Delius Klasing Verlag 1997 ISBN: 3-7688-0483-6
(9. aktualisierte Auflage)
Page: 339 Source with picture Source with history Source with technical data

Giancarlo Schiavoni
"Unter Segeln, die grossen Windjammer auf den Weltmeeren"
Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft mbH 1994 ISBN: 3-7822-0605-3
(ital. Originalausgabe: "La nave a vela")
Page: 108 Source with picture
(ex-Name Gazela Primero)

American Sail Training Association (ASTA)
"Sail Tall Ships! A Directory of Sail Training and Adventure at Sea"
2000 ISBN: 0-9636483-5-7
(12th Edition)
Page: 123 Source with picture Source with history Source with technical data Quelle with contact

Thaddeus Koza
"Tall Ships - the Fleet of the 21th Century"
Tide-Mark Press, East Hartford 2000 ISBN: 1-55949-551-0
(http://www.tallshipsinternational.com/)
Page: 79 Source with picture Source with history Source with technical data

Otmar Schäuffelen
"Die letzten grossen Segelschiffe"
Delius Klasing Verlag 2002 ISBN: 3-7688-0483-6
(10. aktualisierte und erweiterte Auflage)
Page: 381 Source with picture Source with history Source with technical data

American Sail Training Association (ASTA)
"Sail Tall Ships! A Directory of Sail Training and Adventure at Sea"
2007 ISBN: 978-0-9799878-0-9
(17th Edition)
Page: 157 Source with picture Source with history Source with technical data Quelle with contact