Leon of 1880 (left), Little Leon (right)

When I first saw the photo, I thought that the Little Leon was sailed by giants. The ship looked properly to scale, while the crew seemed disproportionately large.  It turns out that Little Leon is a 16′ long brigantine modeled after the Leon, a 120′ Norwegian brigantine built in 1880.  Little Leon will be sailing in the Old City Seaport Festival on the Delaware River in Philadelphia sponsored by the Independence Seaport Museum from October 5-7th.  For fans of other “small ships” see our post from 2010: “Small Ships Under the Tower Bridge“

Little Leon: Sailing a 16-foot model of a square-rigged ship