June 27, 2015 – One tall ship stands out among all of the others at the Tall Ships Festival this weekend in Philadelphia – the French frigate L’ Hermione. She is a replica of the ship Marquis de Lafayette sailed to America in 1780 to help George Washington force the surrender of the British at Yorktown to end the Revolutionary War.

Cameras and phones were snapping away last night as visitors walked along the dock at the harbor. The bow of the ship is a bright yellow lion carved in beautiful detail.

    The bow of L’Hermione (Photo: SNN)

In 1780, the ship needed a crew of over 300 to sail the high seas. The 2015 replica, built in France over 17 years at a cost of $34 million, requires a crew of 73.

    L’Hermione is in Philadelphia on June 26, 2015 for the Tall Ships Festival. (Photo: SNN)

Last night many of the 73 crew members were up in the ship’s mast. They were rolling up sails, just one of the many jobs on a ship powered by sails but also powered by two engines for modern day transit across the Atlantic Ocean. What a summer of work and fun for the crew!

Philadelphia is one stop along the east coast this summer for the ship’s maiden voyage to the United States. She will be in New York City for the Fourth of July and then in Boston the following weekend. After Boston, L’Hermione will make one more stop in the United States in Maine and then travel north into Canada before crossing the Atlantic Ocean to return to her home port in France.