Courtesy Photo The historic tall ship “Lettie G. Howard” will be sailing into Alpena today. Sailing excursions are available to the public at 9 a.m., noon, and 3 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, for $45 per person. The 1893 schooner is seen here in Presque Isle Bay in Lake Erie in Erie, Pa.

ALPENA — The historic tall ship Lettie G. Howard will continue her maiden voyage on Lake Huron today, heading for Alpena, where she will welcome visitors who wish to sail on the 131-year-old vessel.

The public can purchase tickets to sail on the historic ship at 9 a.m., noon, or 3 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are $45 per person, available at sailfnl.org/alpena.

Based in Erie, Pa., the schooner sailed to Lake Erie and is currently hosted by the Flagship Niagara League, offering sailing tours from Dobbins Landing in Erie since 2018. She is owned by the South Street Seaport Museum in New York City.

“The voyage, overall, is in the neighborhood of 400 miles, from Erie,” to Alpena, said Joseph Lengieza, deputy director, Flagship Niagara League. “As far as we can tell, this is the first time in a career of 130 odd years, that the ship has been in Lake Huron.”

According to the Seaport Museum’s website, the 1893 schooner “is one of a few surviving examples of Fredonia type fishing schooners once in wide use in the North Atlantic and typical of those that once called at the Fulton Fish Market … After an active life in the fisheries of the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts,” she retired from her fishing career in 1968, docking at the Seaport Museum. She was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1989.

Renowned shipbuilder Arthur D. Story built the Lettie G. Howard in 1893 at a shipyard in Essex, Mass.

“The ship is on a two-week program with the Girl Scouts of Northeast Ohio,” Lengieza said on Wednesday afternoon. “They joined in Sandusky, Ohio on Sunday, and the ship, at the moment, is around Port Huron. So, she came up through the Detroit/St. Claire River system. She should be entering Lake Huron proper pretty soon.”

He expected the vessel to arrive in Alpena around noon today, depending on the wind conditions.

The Lettie G. Howard will be docked on the Thunder Bay River near the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center. People are encouraged to come view the ship today, although there will not be any tours or excursions until Saturday. Walking down the Maritime Heritage Trail to check out the ship from land is encouraged, and people can take photos of the ship as well. Lengieza said you can view the most interesting parts of the ship from the dock.

“People are welcome to come have a look,” he said.

He explained that the ship has been repaired and parts have been replaced over the past 131 years, but that she is still the original schooner.

“The ship is certificated by the U.S. government as a sail training vessel,” Lengieza said. “Meaning, we take people on board and they legally and effectively become part of the crew.”

He said that is what Girl Scouts from all across the nation are doing on the ship now.

“They’re sailing on board, they’re standing watches,” he said. “Obviously, we have a professional crew on board who are responsible for navigating the vessel, but the students help set the sails, they stand watch, they steer, they stand lookout, all of those things, under the supervision of professionals.”

He talked a little bit more about the history of the Lettie G. Howard, which is short for Leticia Gould Howard, named after the daughter of the first owner.

She was built to fish cod on the North Atlantic, he said.

“In 1902, it was sold to an outfit out of Pensacola, Florida, and it operated there as a commercial fishing vessel until the 1960s,” Lengieza said. “So, that’s something that I think is interesting, that about the same time we’re putting people on the moon, someone is still using this wooden fishing vessel in the United States as a commercial enterprise.”

After retiring from commercial fishing, the Lettie G. Howard “made its way through a series of transfers and transactions, and ended up with the South Street Seaport Museum in New York City,” Lengieza said. “They restored the ship completely in 1991, and we’ve been operating it as a partnership with them since 2018.”

At different points in time, the ship was formerly known as the Mystic C and the Caviare.

She’s a tall ship, with a mast height of 65 feet as currently rigged, according to Lengieza. The Lettie G. Howard is 125 feet long, and about 20 feet wide at the widest point. The sail area is about 5,000 square feet, he said.

It takes a crew of at least four, including the captain, for a day sail. More crew members would be needed for an overnight trip.

“Historically, the ship would have had a crew of 12,” Lengieza said.

He said the optimal wind speed for sailing the Lettie G. Howard, in general, would be about 15 knots, the equivalent of 17.26 miles per hour.

“The more you have, the faster you go,” Lengieza said. “The ship is longer than it is tall, so the ideal wind is coming from the side, coming from the beam … That allows you to get the most out of your sail area.”

The weather is looking good for Saturday and Sunday, with mostly sunny conditions and temps in high 70s to mid-80s.

Reach Darby Hinkley at dhinkley@thealpenanews.com, or call 989-358-5691.