The Portuguese naval ship Sagres has begun welcoming local visitors as part of its four-day stay in Bermuda, with a crew excited to celebrate the island’s culture and ties with the citizens of their home country.

The state ship’s 145-strong crew, including 36 sail trainee cadets, have a busy itinerary ahead after arriving on the island for Portugal Day on Wednesday.

They will engage in several days of cultural celebration, community engagement and diplomatic events before heading across the Atlantic to the United States.

A classic three-masted tall ship and the pride of the Portuguese Navy, Sagres is a sail-training vessel that enables continued seamanship training for future officers at sea, complementing the technical and academic education received at the Naval Academy.

João Faisca, officer on duty yesterday and the ship’s gunnery officer, welcomed The Royal Gazette on board for a brief tour, and to discuss their trip and plans beyond Bermuda.

Mr Faisca said that Sagres journeys to destinations with strong Portuguese connections.

He said: “This is one of the reasons to come to Bermuda because we have a lot of Portuguese people here. Yesterday, it was Portugal Day, and I think it’s special when we celebrate the day with Portuguese people around.

“It’s good for us and it’s good for the people who never get back to Portugal, or don’t visit a lot. It’s good for them to visit the ship and talk with the crew.

“Yesterday, we were working, we can’t stop the ship to celebrate, but we had people from the Vasco da Gama Club here and there will be other celebrations.”

The ship started its voyage on April 30 in Lisbon and headed to New York before coming to Bermuda.

On June 14, it will head back to the US to participate in Sail 250, a maritime celebration marking the 250th anniversary of the country’s independence. It will visit locations such as Norfolk, Baltimore, Boston and New Bedford before returning to Lisbon.

Mr Faisca said: “Part of our mission is to get to the Portuguese people in every corner of the world.”

One major aspect of Portuguese culture and history is its contribution to a pioneering era of maritime exploration.

The golden figurehead at the bow of the ship depicts Prince Henry the Navigator, born in 1394, the driving force behind the Portuguese discoveries and expansion.

Mr Faisca said while it was his first trip to Bermuda, the ship had visited the island on several occasions before including a brief stopover in 2023, a trip in 2015 as part of a four-month Atlantic training expedition, and during the Tall Ships Atlantic Challenge in 2009.

Speaking of his first impressions, he added: “I knew Bermuda was an island in the Atlantic and I was really excited to visit. I saw some photos online and it looked like a beautiful place.

“It is really, really beautiful. It has beautiful water, there is a lot of greenery from nature and houses near the coast.

“I’m excited to go and visit the island, and learn more about the culture.”

He said the food on board the ship is all prepared by the Portuguese military and a keg of Madeira wine, the tipple traditionally used to toast the US Declaration of Independence, was placed on deck in preparation for Sail 250.

“It is all Portuguese food. On special occasions, we have pastel de nata [a sweet egg tart] and bacalhau [a salted cod dish].

“The wine is here because the toast when America got their independence was made with Madeira wine. We are going to be there to celebrate their 250 years of independence and will make a toast.”

Built in Hamburg in 1937 as the Albert Leo Schlageter, Sagres was the third in a series of four ships ordered by the German Navy.

After the Second World War, the ship fell to the US and was later ceded to the Brazilian Navy.

It was not until 1961 that the ship was acquired by Portugal. It was officially commissioned as a sail training vessel in February of 1962.

Officer Faisca said: “Our cadets are here to train and the rest of us are the crew members.

“It is difficult to describe a normal day because every day we do different things. The cadets are learning about the sails and the navigational procedures, how to avoid any accidents like man overboard or fire …

“This is a special ship, we don’t have a lot of guns or machines but we do train gunnery as an exercise. We train military exercises but the Sagres is not the same as a warship.

“We learn everything here but the ship doesn’t have the same capacities as a warship that is made to go to operations.”