Young sailors scrambled like seafaring spiders up a web of rope ladders strung from masts stretching 15 stories high above the Eagle, a U.S. Coast Guard tall ship.
Perched in the rigging above the deck was an exuberant way to say hello to the city of New Orleans, which had just come into sight on Thursday morning, a few miles up the Mississippi River.
The 90-year-old Eagle is the Coast Guard’s most treasured vessel. The 300-foot barque is a floating antique, a throwback to a romantic era when power was provided by the wind, and navigation was based on the sun and stars…