Fleet Captain William “Billy” Sabatini is the executive director and fleet captain of the Flagship Niagara League.
Sabatini grew up in southeastern Massachusetts, on Cape Cod, and so has been around water his entire life. He began sailing tall ships in Newport, RI, before attending Tabor Academy, an academically rigorous high school in Marion, MA. While at Tabor, Billy sailed for four years on the Schooner Tabor Boy; he also crewed on various other schooners during his summer breaks. In the latter half of his senior year, he restored a 1939 Alden Coastwise Cruiser, Luau, which he sailed throughout New England after graduation. The following year, he sailed Luau to Maine Maritime Academy, where he spent the next four years earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Small Vessel Operations, with a concentration in Sail Training.
While at Maine Maritime, Billy worked his way up to the position of Chief Mate of the Academy’s schooner Bowdoin, where he designed and implemented Bowdoin’s student run sail training program. During his college career, he also assisted in the development of a supplemental seamanship program, applicable to both traditional and modern vessels, for students in all majors at the Academy.
Billy began his time with the US Brig Niagara in 2005, as 3rd Mate, advancing to Chief Mate in 2008, Captain in 2014 and Executive Director/Fleet Captain in 2018. Since starting with the Flagship Niagara League the ship has won Tall Ships America’s “Sail Training Program of the Year” twice (2010 and 2015), “Port of the Year” twice (2019 and 2022) for Tall Ships Erie and Tall Ships America’s “Sail Trainer of the Year”. During the winter months, he has served as Mate or Captain on a number of tall ships on every coast of the United States. He has sailed the East coast from Nova Scotia to Venezuela, the West Coast from Alaska to Mexico, and the entire Great Lakes system, as well as crossing the Atlantic twice.
Adapted from the 2018 Brig Niagara Blog, https://brigniagara.wordpress.com/meet-the-crew/