'And All I Ask Is a Tall Ship'

So wrote the sea-struck poet John Masefield. And, because they have found no better training ground for future officers than the forest of rigging atop old-fashioned sailing vessels, many of the world's navies feel the same. This week the exemplars of that grand tradition will be visible in the U.S. School ships from 13 nations, including Portugal's Sagres (far right) and Denmark's Danmark, rendezvous in New York Harbor after a mass cruise from Lisbon, where the pictures on this and the following pages were taken.

Nets rigged under the bowsprit of Norway's bark Statsraad Lehmkuhl are there to catch falling sails and—possibly—falling sailors.

Like monkeys at war with snakes, cadets manhandle tightly furled sails high in a forest of masts.

THREE PHOTOS

RICHARD MEEK