NTM Creoula

Story

Creoula is a four-masted, steel-hulled schooner built in 1937 in a record 62 workdays. She was constructed for a Portuguese fishing company, Parceria Geral de Pescarias, and until her last trip in 1973, Creoula had wooden topmasts, booms and gaffs. The standing rigging has always been steel, and the running rigging was originally made from sisal rope. Until 1973, this four-masted schooner spent 37 consecutive years working the cold waters off Grand Banks, Newfoundland. The ship typically set sail from Lisbon in April for Nova Scotia, where she remained until the end of May. After renewing supplies in Sydney, Nova Scotia, or St. John’s, Newfoundland, Creoula would sail to Greenland, where she fished until mid-September. In 1979, she was purchased from the Portuguese Department of Fisheries with the intention of converting her to a museum of fishery. A survey showed her hull to be in impeccable condition, however, and a decision was made to restore her as a sail training vessel. She is now owned by the Portuguese Navy but carries only civilian cadets and trainees.