Mystery solved!
I went home last night and looked through a couple of books I have on Tall Ships. I found Toul Mour, the ship that Rick Dinon saw in the Pacific last July. The picture in my book matches up with the pic Rick posted. According to my book, Tole Mour was built in Seattle in 1988. She has a steel hull and is rigged as a Topsail Schooner. She is 156'LOA with a beam of 31' and draws 13'6". Rick, her home port is Honolulu. She served as a hospital ship in the Marschall Islands for quite a while and was named through a contest held among the school children on the Marschall Islands. The name means "gift of life and health". How appropriate. Here come the interesting part that I think solves our mystery. She was designed by a firm in Auckland, New Zealand "and is NEARLY a sister ship of the national sail training ship of New Zealand, Spirit of New Zealand". I added the caps to the word "nearly" as I think the ship Ted Weitz saw off the tip of Long Island a few weeks ago was probably "Spirit of New Zealand". The pictures these guys posted are remarkably close but not exact. "nearly a sister ship". My book is copyrighted 1996. Ships change hands and ships change names so whatever she is going by these days I think this solves the mystery. What do you think? Tom s/v Orion's Child P.S. Ted, if you think this ship, at 156' LOA dwarfed the 105' Mystic Whaler, you should see some of the really big Tall Ships. Kruzenshtern, from Russia is the largest at 376' but there are many over 300'. I saw Kruzenshtern in the Delaware Bay heading for Wilmington, DE one year. She was too tall to go to Philly. TCB Correction, Kruzenshtern is the second largest, Sedov, also from Russia, is 386'. Both are 4 masted Barques. TCB
