Taking a tour of the tall ships

Stefanie Frith

NEWPORT BEACH -- Adjusting his pirate hat, five-year-old Alex Mitchell

of Corona del Mar pulled on his mother Karen’s arm and started to get

excited.

“Look, look!” he said. “I can see the pirate flag.”

Karen Mitchell, 39, laughed, and shielding her eyes from the sun,

looked out from the deck of the Newport Harbor Nautical Museum at the two

tall ships docked in the harbor.

“We saw the ships while driving [on East Coast Highway],” Mitchell

said, “and since Alex is really into pirates, we thought we would come

for the [battle] reenactments today. Should be fun.”

The Mitchells were among the hundreds who came out Saturday to tour

the Lady Washington, a replica of an American ship that sailed around

Cape Horn in the late 1780s, and the Hawaiian Chieftain, a replica of an

18th century square-rigged ship.

Today is the last day to view the two ships before they sail to Marina

del Rey, continuing a six-month educational tour of the California coast

that began in San Francisco in October. The ships have been docked at the

Nautical Museum since Jan. 23.

Throughout the week, both ships’ crews have been teaching fourth and

fifth graders from the area about what it was like to live on and sail on

a tall ship 200 years ago.

During the weekends, including this one, tours have been hosted by the

costumed volunteers who live on the ships throughout the year. There have

also been battle reenactments -- today’s is sold out.

Hawaiian Chieftain captain Derek Esibill said that the reenactments

are not necessarily historically accurate. Esibill has been touring with

the two ships for six years.

“It was a tough life to live 200 years ago,” the 29-year-old captain

said. “There were no medications, food quality was low and you worked

long, hard hours. So we try to bring this across in the tours and

reenactments. It’s a great platform to bring the past alive, like a

little time machine.”

Three-year-old Kevin Fukushima of Yorba Linda, who was touring the

ships with his parents, Craig and Judy, said he thought the ships were

“fun.”

“My son is just fascinated with ships,” Craig Fukushima said. “It’s

really just amazing that the crew lives in those tiny little quarters. We

are all so used to modern stuff and it’s good to show kids that there are

ships out there that don’t hold 1,000 people, but maybe only a few like

here.”

Ron Newman of Newport Beach brought his two sons, Blake, 13, and

Grant, 11, to see the ships. Newman said his family has been watching the

ships from their home in Bayshores and decided that it was time to take a

tour.

“I think these guys want to be pirates,” Newman said, as Blake and

Grant rested on one of the benches on the Hawaiian Chieftain. “It’s

really just amazing all the things that are on these ships, like the

captain’s quarters and the beds.”

Esibill agreed that there is something romantic and exciting about

living his life on these ships.

“Everyday, we invite people into our home to educate them about our

self-contained community,” he said, watching families duck under ropes

and look out at the sea. “It can be a cold, hard reality and sometimes

people don’t understand why we do this. But I wouldn’t trade it for

anything in the world.”