She’s one of a new breed of tall ship captains: a chat with El Galeon’s skipper

Published 10:30 am Tuesday, May 31, 2016

There’s a lot to like about sailing, but Capt. Rosario Fernandez Rodriguez, skipper and head jeffe of El Galeon, says that one of her greatest satisfactions is watching visitors learn.

“We have many visitors, and it’s wonderful to see them ask questions and increase their knowledge about ships and the sea,” said the 42-year-old captain. “That means they and others will become more aware of the oceans and the vessels on it.”

El Galeon is a 170-foot, five-decked ship which docked in Newburyport, Massachusetts from Wednesday until Tuesday, accommodating thousands of visitors over the holiday weekend. 

It was brought in through the jetties by Rodriquez, one of the few female captains in the international “fraternity” of tall-ship leaders.

She has been in the business for two decades, and has been in the helm of this vessel since 2010. The ship is a replica of a 17th-century galleon, and was constructed in Spain in 2009. It is run by a nonprofit educational institution, and they are giving lessons in the U.S. this summer.

It is frequently based in St. Augustine, Florida, and in recent months has been in Puerto Rico, South Carolina and New Bedford, Massachusetts.

After leaving Newburyport, it will dock in Portland, Maine for a week, before heading to the nautical Midwest, through waterways that connect the Great Lakes to the ocean.

It carries a team of about 25, and they act as both crew and educators. In recent days, they have given scores of tours and talked with hundreds of school children about ships, seamanship and the history of the New World.

The captain, who has a seaman’s bag full of licenses, takes on numerous roles on the 495-ton craft. When she is guiding the vessel, she often has a lieutenant take the helmsman’s wheel while she runs the engines (two diesels, producing 760 HP).

She said she always liked sailing but never anticipated being a captain.

Still, she’s deep into it now.

The nonprofit organization also has a tall ship in Germany. She will soon fly to that country and pilot the ship for several days. And then it’s a visit to Spain to see her family.

After that, it’s a return to El Galeon in the United States so she can display the majestic vessel in numerous cities adjacent to the Great Lakes.

“I am traveling a lot, but we all enjoy educating the people about ships and the ocean,” she said.

Hendrickson is a reporter at The Daily News of Newburyport (Massachusetts).