American Tall Ship Liberty set sail from Miami this weekend on a mercy mission to Haiti.

In a remarkable effort, supporters had a fundraising drive and stripped the 125ft schooner out below to load 5,000kg of urgently needed supplies. These include medical items such as syringes, saline solution, antiseptics, aspirin and anti-inflammatories as well as food and clothes.

Supplies boxes have all been packed for manageable distribution and labelled for each planned recipient.

The full-time captain and mate are joined by volunteer crew. Writer Geert van der Kolk is one of those on board. He will be reporting for us and has written a moving homage to Haiti in our March issue based on several previous voyages to the country.

Liberty’s crew is working in partnership with Haiti Aid. They aren’t yet 100% sure exactly what they are going to find when they get to Haiti but they know who they are trying to distribute aid to and they have clearance from the US Coast Guard. They have also been promised an escort in Haitian waters.

You can follow Liberty’s progress on Facebook and at www.sailblogs.com/member/libertyschooner/

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