The Mexican Navy’s famed training ship returns to Seward with more than 200 sailors, officers and cadets aboard

September 3, 2026, By Lars Hanson KTUU News

SEWARD, Alaska (KTUU) – In 2005, a Mexican Navy tall ship left Honolulu, headed north, with no port yet lined up to receive it.

Alison Healy, then working to place the vessel, had promised its commanders five days in a harbor worthy of the ship. She chose Seward.

What happened over those five days in the small Alaska town stayed with her for two decades: free dinners, impromptu parties, a welcome Healy still describes as making the crew “feel like they were being celebrated every second of every day.”

On Saturday, 21 years after its first Seward visit, the ship came back.

The ARM Cuauhtémoc, a large, three-masted symbol of Mexican naval tradition, glided into Resurrection Bay and arrived at the Seward Freight Dock just before 10 a.m., carrying over 200 sailors, officers and cadets for a four-day visit.

The visit marks the ship’s third to Seward, following the 2005 stop and another in 2014. Most of the Cuauhtémoc’s other ports of call are sprawling cities in warm latitudes.

Seward is neither, and Healy said that’s exactly the draw. “Seward offers a contrast,” she said, “and with it, a very warm welcome from a small community.”

A voyage underway since July

Seward is the second port of call on the Cuauhtémoc’s “Pacífico Norte 2026” instruction cruise, a 92-day voyage covering roughly 9,812 nautical miles that began July 15, when the ship departed Acapulco, according to Mexico’s Secretariat of the Navy, known as SEMAR. Of those 92 days, 69 are spent at sea and 23 in port. Beyond Seward, the cruise also calls at Honolulu, Hawaii; Victoria, Canada; and San Francisco and San Diego, California, before the ship returns to Acapulco.

Aboard for the voyage are 144 midshipmen from Mexico’s Heroic Naval Military School, 99 men and 45 women, SEMAR said. Sail Training International, which tracks the world’s tall ships, lists the vessel’s full onboard community at 144 trainees and 137 permanent crew.

In a social media post announcing the ship’s arrival in Seward, SEMAR described the Cuauhtémoc as a diplomatic ambassador carrying a message of peace, friendship and goodwill from the Mexican people, while sharpening the seamanship and leadership skills of the midshipmen aboard.

Four decades at sea

The Cuauhtémoc was built in Bilbao, Spain, and entered Mexican naval service in 1982, according to Ocean Alliances, the California-based nonprofit Healy leads.

Mexico’s Navy calls the vessel the “Ambassador and Knight of the Seas,” a title the service says reflects more than four decades spent projecting Mexico’s image abroad through discipline, professionalism and seafaring tradition.

By SEMAR’s own count, the ship had completed 43 training cruises, called at 223 ports in 63 countries and logged more than 859,000 nautical miles since entering service — not counting the voyage now underway.

The ship has also built a competitive reputation on the international tall ships circuit, placing second in the 2004 Tall Ships Races, first in both 2005 and 2012, and taking home the event’s Friendship Trophy in 2023, according to Sail Training International.

The Tall Ships Races are one of the world’s largest annual sail training series, drawing vessels and young trainees from around the globe to a rotating set of European host ports each summer.

Ocean Alliances has coordinated visits by international sailing ships to Pacific Coast ports since 1999. Healy said the organization’s work today centers on negotiating discounted services from maritime organizations to help offset the cost of each visit, since ships like the Cuauhtémoc open their decks to the public free of charge at ports throughout their travels.

“[The ship] will arrive on its own,” she said. “[The discounts] enable [the] ship to return more regularly as their expenses are not covered by their visits.”

The Cuauhtémoc is scheduled to depart Seward on Thursday, Sept. 3.