THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, November 23, 1995 TAG: 9511230759
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LON WAGNER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 88 lines
Please pardon the Gazela for being late. After all, it is 112 years old.
For the past couple weeks, the world's largest and oldest square-rigged wooden ship has been trying - struggling - to reach Hampton Roads, where it will undergo some sprucing up at Norshipco. Twelve days ago the Gazela, a Portuguese fishing ship now owned by the Philadelphia Ship Preservation Guild, headed down the Chesapeake Bay.
The first night, a storm that blasted Hampton Roads with heavy winds also pummeled the Gazela. It ran aground in Chesapeake City, Md.
``It did no damage, but she was just sitting there high and dry in 6 feet of water when she draws 17 feet,'' said Karen Love, executive vice president of the guild.
The ship and its volunteer crew sat for four days while the guild got its tugboat, the Jupiter - built in 1904, and not much newer than the Gazela - to try to pull out the ship.
``Then the tug got a hole in it,'' said Bob Zang, a retired Navy man and volunteer crew member.
``That was Wednesday night at 4 in the morning, and we all got awakened to try to save her from sinking.''
Save the tug, that is. The Gazela was fine - just stranded.
So by Wednesday morning, when the Gazela was to be hauled out of the water at Norshipco's Brambleton Avenue yard for work on its propeller and routine maintenance, the two-day trip from Philadelphia had taken almost two weeks.
But that's nothing compared with the rest of its history.
For most of its life - until 1969 - the Gazela was a working ship. It was built in 1883 in Calchalus, Portugal, of pine trees that are believed to have been planted in the 14th century by Portugal's Prince Henry the Navigator.
The Gazela's uniqueness is derived from the rigging of its sails: It has 16 sails, but the four rectangular ones in the front are the distinguishing mark.
Wednesday morning, as the 177-foot-long Gazela sat dwarfed by two more modern, industrial-age ships, Zang gave a tour and explained some reminders of the ship's origins.
Metal rings bolted to the deck were used by the 35 Portuguese fishermen to lash down the one-man dories they set out in each day to catch cod. The ship with a 40-man crew would set sail in the spring, using 150 tons of salt as ballast. It would not return for six months until the ship was filled with 350 tons of cod and the salt.
Each day, the men would take the catch below deck and shovel salt on the fish to preserve it.
``The salt helped preserve the ship's timbers,'' Zang pointed out. ``You can see the salt still leaching out of the wood.''
The men slept two to a tiny bunk, wedging a board into wooden slots after the first man was against the wall to divide the sleeping area. These days, to be able to stretch out, taller men have to sleep diagonal in the space once used by two.
But the modern-day Gazela crew must at least have modern-day heating below deck, right?
``No,'' Zang says. ``We have a little space heater and we use sleeping bags and blankets. Boy, I tell you, last night the winds coming up across the naval base were bitter.''
Many of the Portuguese fishing fleet went down in fires, but the Gazela survived and has led a glamorous routine since it was brought to Philadelphia in 1969.
It sailed in the Bicentennial year Operation Sail, the 1982 Statue of Liberty Sail, the Quebec Sail in 1984 and numerous others. Two years ago, it was filmed in ``Interview with the Vampire'' in New Orleans.
When it came time for maintenance, Love said, Gazela's owners sought out Norshipco, because the ship had been repaired there 21 years ago.
``It takes very special needs,'' she said. ``She has to be blocked very carefully, as opposed to a steel ship. Norshipco's done this sort of thing for a long time.''
If the repairs go as scheduled, Love said, the public would likely be able to view the Gazela at Waterside in Norfolk from Wednesday to Friday of next week. ILLUSTRATION: MOTOYA NAKAMURA color photos/The Virginian-Pilot
Weather and the need for repairs made the Gazela late arriving in
Norfolk from Philadelphia.
An 1883 painting still hangs on an interior wall of the Gazela, the
world's largest and oldest square-rigged wooden ship.
by CNB