Coast Guard's Eagle back for ship festival

It's been 20 years since it last appeared on the West Coast. But on July 3, the Eagle will be back.

The 295-foot U.S. Coast Guard cutter — the only active-duty commissioned sailing vessel in the U.S. military — will sail into Foss Waterway next month as part of the Tall Ships Tacoma 2008 festival. The Eagle will join 30 other vessels for the international sailing event July 3-7.

"It was a huge coup to get [the Eagle] here," said Lorraine Ralston, spokeswoman for the festival. "It's one of the things we're the proudest of."

Last year, the festival's board of directors petitioned Gov. Christine Gregoire and various senators to bring the Eagle, based in Connecticut, to the Northwest.

"It was a real grass roots effort to get her here," Ralston said. "We asked people to write letters and make phone calls, and early this year we got confirmation that she'll be coming."

Up to 150 cadets or officer candidates are trained on the Eagle at any given time, according to the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. The ship was built in 1936 in Germany and was commissioned as one of three sail training ships operated by the pre-World War II German navy.

At the end of the war, the cutter was taken as a war reparation by the U.S. and sailed to New London, Conn.

The Eagle has 22,245 square feet of sail and more than 20 miles of rigging, according to the festival's Web site. During major ship maneuvers, cadets must coordinate the movements of more than 200 lines.

The ship will be joined by other well-known vessels such as Lady Washington, which was in the movie the "Pirates of the Caribbean." Tours will be offered during the festival, Ralston said.

With the Lady Washington, "everyone always comes looking for Johnny Depp," she said.

For more information, go to www.tallshipstacoma.com.

Sonia Krishnan: 206-515-5546 or skrishnan@seattletimes.com