South Street Seaport Museum Announces Grain de Sail

South Street Seaport Museum announces Grain de Sail: A Taste of Modern Sail Freight on Saturday, April 6, and Sunday, April 7, 2024, at 1pm, 2pm, and 3pm, on the north side of Pier 17. Featuring a tasting including wine and chocolates imported from France, this event is for anyone ages 21 and up. Tickets range from $12–$15. seaportmuseum.org/grain-de-sail

Join the Seaport Museum and the schooner Grain de Sail for an engaging two-part tour that will showcase the past and present of transporting cargo under sail. 

At Pier 17, come aboard the first modern cargo schooner in the world to see how Grain de Sail offers a sustainable alternative to shipping organic goods internationally. See how the modernizations go beyond an aluminum hull to also include modern navigation technologies, and create a floating wine cellar that properly preserves bottles in ideal conditions throughout the voyage. As the world’s only commercial exporter of fine chocolates and wines by cargo sailboat, Grain de Sail takes on the responsibility of filling the limited space in the hull with the most deserving delicacies. This is your chance to see how!

At Pier 16, the tour will continue aboard the 1885 tall ship Wavertree, to show how cargo was transported between ports in the 19th century. Join us to walk the length of the ship’s hold to grasp the immense scale and imagine the vast quantities of goods once transported under sail.

The tour will conclude with a delightful glass of wine and a sampling of chocolates brought by Grain de Sail from France to New York, offering a taste of the voyage’s delectable cargo.

Space is limited. Advanced registration is encouraged for these tours but walkups will be accommodated as possible. Anyone ages 21 and up is welcome. 

Seaport Museum members receive 20% off. Just sign in when prompted at checkout to receive your discount.

About Sail Freight

For centuries, schooners carrying goods down the Hudson River from upstate docked at South Street Seaport, to distribute their cargo to local markets or to transfer their cargo onto ocean-bound ships to more distant destinations. This trade, and the industries it supported, from banking to warehousing to printing, helped make New York City into a global commercial and then cultural capital. Seaport Museum partners like the New York-based schooner Apollonia and the French sailing ship Grain the Sail are great examples of the revitalization of sail freight that harken back to earlier times.

About Grain de Sail

The adventure Grain de Sail was born in 2010 with a fleet in Morlaix, Brittany and a bold idea to go to the other side of the world in the most eco-friendly way to pick up chocolate and coffee using a cargo sailboat. Initially intended to bring back only cocoa and coffee from Latin America, Grain de Sail decided to include a stopover in New York, in order to limit empty trips. For her outward journey, she sails filled with goods entrusted to her by French companies also committed to decarbonization. graindesail-overseas.com

About the 1885 Tall Ship Wavertree

Wavertree was built at Southampton, England, in 1885 and, after a 24-year sailing career and circumnavigating the globe at least three times, is now the last remaining iron-hulled three-masted full-rigged cargo ship. Today, Wavertree serves as the iconic centerpiece of the bustling waterfront that shaped New York City into a modern metropolis. seaportmuseum.org/about-wavertree

Extend Your Visit

Access to Wavertree is included with your event ticket. To extend your visit and see more that the Museum has to offer, ask Museum staff about our Pay What You Wish General Admission tickets when you check in. Before or after your event, between 11am–5pm, get Pay What You Wish General Admission tickets to see more of the Museum.

General Admission includes access to all current exhibitions on view in the introduction gallery space at 12 Fulton Street and access to the 1885 tall ship Wavertree. Free timed tickets for a tour of the 1908 lightship Ambrose are available separately at no additional cost. seaportmuseum.org/general-admission

About the South Street Seaport Museum

The South Street Seaport Museum, located in the heart of the historic seaport district in New York City, preserves and interprets the history of New York as a great port city. Founded in 1967, the Museum houses an extensive collection of works of art and artifacts, a maritime reference library, exhibition galleries and education spaces, working 19th century print shops, and an active fleet of historic vessels that all work to tell the story of “Where New York Begins.” seaportmuseum.org

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