U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Eagle (WIX 327) is scheduled to rendezvous with USS Constitution at approximately 11:30 a.m. Friday, in the vicinity of Castle Island, in Boston, Massachusetts, where the Constitution will fire a 21-gun salute.
Constitution will also fire a 17-gun salute as it passes U.S. Coast Guard Base Boston, the historic site of Edmund Hartt’s Shipyard where Constitution was built and launched on October 21, 1797.
Media members interested in riding in with Eagle for this transit can coordinate through Petty Officer Kate Kilroy at [email protected]. Those interested should RSVP by 3 p.m. Thursday and plan to be at Coast Guard Base Boston no later than 7:45 a.m. Friday.
Eagle will moor at Coast Guard Base Boston following the transit. On Saturday and Sunday, Eagle will be available for free tours for the following dates and times:
- Saturday (10 a.m. to 7 p.m.)
- Sunday (10 a.m. to 7 p.m.)
Military members and first responders with valid ID can attend tours one hour prior to posted tour times.
Media is invited to tour Eagle and conduct interviews from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on Saturday. Those interested should RSVP at [email protected] by 5 p.m. Friday.
At 295 feet in length, Eagle is the largest tall ship flying the stars and stripes and the only active square-rigger in United States government service. Eagle has served as a classroom at sea to future Coast Guard officers since 1946, offering an at-sea leadership and professional development experience as part of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy curriculum.
Eagle is a three-masted barque with more than 22,300 square feet of sail and six miles of rigging. The cutter was constructed in 1936 by the Blohm and Voss Shipyard in Hamburg, Germany. Originally commissioned as the Horst Wessel by the German navy, Eagle was a war reparation for the United States following World War II.
Additional information about the Eagle can be found here. The Eagle’s design dimensions can be found here.
