UPDATED: August 12, 2021
And all I ask is a tall ship, and a star to sail her by. – John Masefield, Sea Fever
Minutes slipped away as midnight approached. Like Cinderella, it seemed I would soon turn into a pumpkin.
The place was St. Kitts, a whale-shaped islet in the Leeward Islands. Our ship, the Polynesia, was docked in the harbor town of Basseterre.
For years, I had dreamed of taking a trip aboard a Windjammer. Unlike the mega-ships that dominate today’s cruise industry, this company boasted a collection of historic vessels catering to more laid-back, barefoot vacationers. I was one of them.
In Jimmy Buffett’s ballad “A Pirate Looks at 40,” the wistful buccaneer-wannabe laments that he was born 200 years too late. Like him, I’ve sometimes wished I lived in an earlier era, the age of steam trains and sailing ships.
Trying to reason with hurricane season, I had come to the Caribbean to celebrate my 30th birthday, hoping for decent weather, a bit of rest, and the chance to turn back time by sailing aboard a tall ship. To my delight, the captain posted a sign-up sheet for would-be helmsmen, meaning I could actually pilot the ship! I grabbed the midnight slot on September 21st to be at the wheel sailing into my thirtieth year. It seemed an ideal setting to capture some nostalgia as a new decade dawned.
Alas, it appeared my dream would die in port that night. Filling the ship’s fresh water tanks was taking longer than expected. At least there was a steel-drum band plonking away on deck. As the music wrapped up, I dejectedly glanced at my watch as the hands mockingly signaled midnight. Hooray, I was thirty years old. Boo-hoo, I was going nowhere.
Canceled plans are hard for me. Though I’m more patient now, having to miss something I’ve anticipated still stings. I also struggle with brooding, replaying an event in my mind and stewing over how I wished it had turned out. Would this birthday be another one of those times spent moping over a missed opportunity?
The captain, strolling toward the ship’s stern, noticed my crestfallen face. I mentioned I was scheduled for the midnight turn at the helm, which wasn’t happening. He smiled and asked, “How would you like to take us out?”
Would I ever! I thought this maneuver might be too complicated for a passenger, but he reassured me I could handle it. I leapt to take my place beside him, grasping the spoked wooden wheel, and, like Thurber’s Walter Mitty, morphed into a sailor of old.
We slipped away from the dock and motored out of the harbor when the magic began – it was time to set the sails. The Polynesia was a 248-foot schooner fitted with four massive wooden masts. She carried gaff-rigged sails, an unusually heavy arrangement requiring a team of six hauling on each line to raise them. To the piping of “Amazing Grace,” passengers and crew heaved on the thick ropes as the sails soared skyward, transforming us from a mere motor vessel to a true sailing ship.
There’s a reason a ship is called a she. As the wind swelled the sails, you could sense her coming to life. While the deck planks creaked and the big masts bowed, the canvas ruffled and popped like giant lungs inhaling the warm trade winds.
I spun the wheel to the right, settling us on a northwest course for the pinnacle-shaped island of Saba. The sea spray whispered as the sails fluttered. The winking stars above were silent.
“Steady as she goes,” said the captain.
“Aye aye, sir,” I replied, feeling at peace to be contentedly moving forward.
Nearly three decades have passed. I’m now approaching 60. Recently, I saw an article about the sad demise of the Windjammer Company and breakup of its fleet. Like that evening in St. Kitts before taking the helm, I could waste time and energy pining away about the fate of the once-proud Polynesia. I’ve changed though.
Instead of feeling bitter, I will be grateful for one magical night, when I turned 30 and took my place at the helm of a graceful tall ship.
Do you have any memories of the Windjammer fleet or something similar? Please share your comments and like this article if you enjoyed it.
Rails, Whales and Tales 
One of my bucket list adventures… a tall sailing ship trip. *sigh* You always have all the fun!
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Make your own fun happen! Everything starts with a dream. So dream big and set sail today!
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Thanks for your comments on my post, indeed Windjammers are missed! Cheers
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My wife and I cruised the Polynesia for two weeks spring of 1985. We hung out on the rear deck on the rope stacks every night as the belowdecks were stifling hot, and had the same great experience one night in the wee hours.. the 2nd mate disappeared and the islander helmsman Grant let me post up full sail on the heading. He disappeared for a full 45 minutes, returning only 5 min before the Australian mate. Unforgettable. Not sure the underwriters would approve.
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Indeed many memoires helping to raise the sails of the Fantôme. Thanks for stopping by Cheers
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I visited St. Kitts in 1983, during a Windjammer cruise on the Polynesia. We left from St. Maarten and also went to Saba and St. Barts (twice). So much fun! I wish I could do it again. Headed for St. Kitts again in a few weeks, this time on a big cruise ship. It won’t be the same, but I’m still looking forward to it.
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James Brady August 24, 2024
In 1975 I was 20 years old working on the Alaska pipeline 40 miles north of the Yukon River in a work camp, I saw a Windjammer ad in the back of an old magazine. I took a four week leave from my job and headed for South Florida made my arrangements and before I new it I was in St. Martin and at the dock there she was, the Polynesia. I was a day early and before I knew it became a working guest. For two weeks at $350.00 a week we sailed the Windward and Leeward islands. I was not much more than a kid and hung with the crew mostly and after the first few days the captain treated me as one, he had a tone for the passengers and tone for the crew. It’s 50 years ago and the memory is still vivid in my mind. Don’t quote me, my memory is not what it once was, but the Polynesia was built on 1939 in Portugal and originally a commercial cod fishing vessel, later bought by Windjammer cruise lines and converted to their purpose. The last research I did revealed, I believe the Portuguese government bought her and restored her as a National Treasure. What I do know is that a life long love of sailing began on the Polynesia.
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Just came across your article on the Polynesia. I, too, sailed on the Poly — in January of 1993. I was fortunate to snatch a midnight shift at the helm. What a special experience. I remember Amazing Grace being played each time we sailed, and wondered why until my turn at the helm. Just above the door to the chart room in front of the ship’s wheel was a small brass plaque that read “She sails with amazing grace.” If my memory is correct, and that’s not certain at 72, I believe the captain’s name on that voyage was Marcel Decker. Thanks for stoking an old and very pleasurable memory.
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SS Polynesia
A cycling tour from Porto to Lisbon found my group skirting the docks area outside Aveiro.
A sad rusting tall ship, obviously converted to passenger carriage from commercial use intrigued me. I had longed as a teenager to sail on the SS Malcolm Miller or Winston Churchill – and knew nothing of the Windjammer company til now.
I took a photo of the stern of this forelorn ship Polynesia and determined to investigate on my return.
The Polynesia is moored opposite a fish processing factory owned by a massive company called Pascoal, and adorning the facade of the unit is a hugely enlarged book cover by a writer called Alan Villiers ‘A Campanha do Argus’ – and on searching an online bookstore I found a copy of the book and established that it was a Portuguese translation of the book titled The Quest of the Schooner Argus written in 1951 after the author had spent six months on the ship sailing from Portugal to Newfoundland as they fished for cod.
I suspect they now own the ship and that they were possibly the original owners, and that it is part of their heritage story.
I then found this blog and discovered that she had had a second life as a passenger ship sailing the Caribbean. Fascinating.
Anyway, I attach the Google maps coordinates (40.6402666, -8.6945270)
And if you use Google street view as well you can get some dockside views.
I hope one day she is sailing again – just needs a billionaire with passion…
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Thanks for sharing this insight! I was in Portugal/Spain earlier this year walking part of the Porto route of the Camino de Santiago. That’s an interesting connection that the Windjammer ship Polynesia is moored there now! Safe travels!
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