 | From Ocean Navigator #127 January/February 2003 |
The Sea Education Association is not the only company buying and selling brigantines. The Los Angeles Maritime Institute recently launched an identical pair of 120-foot brigantines for use in their at-sea program for Southern California school groups.
The brigantines Irving Johnson and Exy Johnson are named for the colorful tall-ship captain Irving Johnson and his wife. Irving shot the film Around Cape Horn, which depicts his adventures as a youth rounding the Horn on the square-rigger Peking, in 1929. Exy Johnson accompanied her husband on numerous voyages around the world. Peking now lies alongside at South Street Seaport in Manhattan. Irving Johnson sailed seven times around the world as captain of Yankee – actually three ships with the same name – that served as a floating classroom for high-school children. Exy Johnson and Irving Johnson are each built of wood, carrying wooden spars, and will be sailing out of Long Beach, Calif., as sail-training vessels. (The organization is selling the schooner Bill of Rights to make way for the new ships.) For updates on the vessels’ activities, visit www.brigantines.com.
