Barkentine Gazela

Dear PSPG supporter, 2020 has been a challenging year for everyone, including the Guild. The earliest, scariest phase of the pandemic forced the near-complete closure of the ships. Even after we were able to slowly resume limited activities and allow volunteer involvement, all public events for the 2020 summer season remained cancelled. This left a large hole in our anticipated earned income and public donations. As you know, we depend heavily on volunteers for maintenance, r...epairs, and operations. It is one of the cornerstones of the PSPG and the heart of our community. With the absence of our devoted volunteers, we have been fortunate to have a small group of paid staff through this time. They, along with a few volunteers, have been working to maintain the ships and move various repair projects forward aboard Gazela. The anchor windlass is being replaced, we have a new lazarette hatch, and numerous planks in the topsides have been replaced. With no dedicated source of funding and thus no paid staff, Jupiter has received only minimal attention during this period, though in recent weeks renewed volunteer attention has begun. As we move into a new, pre-vaccine normal, our ships and organization are in a precarious position. Bills continue to arrive for maintenance and repair expenses, insurance, and staff. We have lost vital ground in the timing of Gazela’s next drydocking. The Board and Committees are working hard on grant writing, post-pandemic programming, and planning the future of both Gazela and Jupiter. If you are in a secure financial position at this time, please consider making a donation to the PSPG Annual Fund. With your support we can keep the staff working and the bills paid until we can all muster on deck once again. You can go to www.philashipguild.org/donate to make a secure one-time or recurring gift. If you would prefer, you can also mail a check to our office at the address below. We thank you for your support and for being a part of this wonderful community. Sincerely, Terry Gerlich Ellen (Leung) Church Chair, Development Committee Development Committee

A little bit of thickness planing to be done... Who wants to help?

This bad boy's all sharpened up and ready to go to work tomorrow.

The Philadelphia Ship Preservation Guild (PSPG) is pleased to announce the receipt of $100,000 in grant funding from The W. W. Smith Charitable Trust. The grant application was submitted as part of the 2019-2020 maritime grant cycle on behalf of Philadelphia's Tall Ship Gazela, a barkentine of Portuguese origin which first sailed in 1901. The Philadelphia Ship Preservation Guild is an all volunteer nonprofit corporation dedicated to preserving historic ships and teaching sea...manship, restoration skills and maritime science and culture. The Guild maintains and operates two historic vessels, the Tall Ship Gazela, and the tugboat Jupiter. The Gazela, built in 1901 is a three masted barkentine with an exceptional heritage. Research suggests that she is oldest wooden Class A Tall Ship still sailing in the world, a priceless piece of world seafaring history and culture. Gazela was also one of the last working sailing ships. Until 1969 she sailed annually to the Grand Banks to fish for cod using the centuries-old long-line technique The W. W. Smith Charitable Trust is a private foundation established by William Wikoff Smith in 1977 to make grants in the Greater Philadelphia region to support basic needs, higher education scholarships, maritime education, and medical research. The foundation's relationship with the Gazela dates back to 1970, when Smith, a philanthropist with wide-ranging interests that included sailing and model ship-building, purchased the retired. The generous funding on behalf of the Trust will enable the PSPG to accomplish a number of survey recommendations for Gazela, contributes to broadening PSPG's office operations, and supports preparations for major projects slated through 2021, including a planned drydocking and replacement of the ship's 1970s-era ballast tanks. These critical repairs will help Gazela continue her role as the good-will ambassador ship for Philadelphia's international seaport, safely sail to various ports for historical exhibitions, and provide the entertainment and education experiences that hundreds of students and other visitors have enjoyed for over 40 years since her arrival at Penn's Landing. Melissa Black-Simmons, President of the PSPG Board of Directors, officially accepted the grant on December 3rd. The PSPG is extremely grateful for this opportunity, which will help keep the historic Gazela around for future generations to learn from. This generous grant from the Trust will enable PSPG to broaden our efforts at addressing the survey recommendations and repair needs of the ship, as well as deal with emergent issues such as the need to rebuild the anchor windlass, and plan for a periodic drydocking in summer 2020. If you'd like to contribute additional funds to help in these efforts, please click here to donate or send us a message about how you can volunteer to help!!!

This #GivingTuesday, please consider a donation to support the continued maintenance and preservation of the historic Tug Jupiter and Barkentine Gazela. Funds also go to support continued development of educational programming for both kids and adults!

We still have one show left. Get your tickets now for July 4th and come be a part of the magic!https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/4271786

It's not too late for the best seats in the house to two upcoming shows at Penn's Landing! All proceeds go to support the Philadelphia Ship Preservation Guild.

Don't forget to get your tickets to view the upcoming fireworks on July 1st and 4th from the best seats in the house! Bring a picnic dinner and enjoy clean restrooms and tours while you wait for the fireworks!

Fireworks event!

This year on #GivingTuesday, we hope that you will consider a gift to help support Gazela's future. While Gazela is still a sailing ship, she is in need of a major, multi-year drydocking. We will need to raise several million dollars to accomplish this a feat which we cannot undertake solely with volunteers. We will need the help of professional fundraisers. We are currently working hard to raise $86,000 to fund our business plan in 2019. This plan involves hiring staff a...nd outside consultants to help us run educational programming in schools in and around the Philadelphia area, reach more volunteers, host more events onboard Gazela, and work on our capital campaign. So far, we have been able to raise enough funds and pledges to hire a part time education coordinator to work on school programing, scheduled to start soon. We expect this position to become self-sustaining in a little over year. Please consider a donation to PSPG to help build a more robust organization that will be able to return to a regular sailing schedule, and to provide continuous community programming and to ensure a long life for our ships #GivingTuesday