In 1972, Barclay Warburton III sailed his brigantine, Black Pearl, to Europe to participate in the International Sail Training Races, with visits to Cowes, Skegen Odde, Malmo, Travemunde, and Kiel. This trip proved to be the inspiration for founding the American Sail Training Association (now Tall Ships America). As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of ASTA’s founding, we encourage you to explore the map below which allows you to follow Black Pearl‘s 1972 Trans-Atlantic journey. This map will be updated regularly to show the route that the Black Pearl took to reach Cowes, England, and some of the plotted points will have photos or other content in them. You can view the full-sized map by clicking here.

On August 21, 1972 Black Pearl and USCGC Eagle participated in the Sail Training Association race of the season from Cowes to Skagen Odde/The Skaw in Denmark. This Associated Press footage captured the start of the race, where you can see Black Pearl amidst the other 43 ships in the event.