Topping Out
Around Christmas time, the riggers tie an evergreen up on the foremast of a number of the larger vessels around the seaport. In the construction world, this is called “topping out,” and you can see examples of this on tall buildings under construction.
That’s the foremast of the Joseph Conrad, the ship we use for overnight programs here at the seaport.
As you can see, she’s been hauled out for maintenance.
It’s always amazing to me how huge many of the boats in our collection look once you get them out of the water.
There’s one on the front of the Morgan’s shed as well.
This tradition isn’t specific to the Seaport, or even the United states. Here is a coaster from the Netherlands called the ANDA.
If you’d like to read more about this, here’s an article.