New London — The city and the Coast Guard made it official Friday. As in a three-stories-tall banner official.

The unveiling of the banner — which features a picture of the Eagle and Ledge Light stretched across the side of the Water Street Parking Garage and states "New London Connecticut's Coast Guard City" — happened at an event in honor of New London's recent designation as a "Coast Guard City."

The event brought together a who's who of Connecticut's government and Coast Guard officials.

Cities must apply for the designation, which is bestowed at the discretion of the commandant, and must show their support of the Coast Guard over a sustained period of time.

City Council President Wade Hyslop, who served in the Coast Guard, emceed the event.

"This designation and honor from the United States Coast Guard is bestowed upon only a handful of American cities, and New London is proud to soon be counted among them," Hyslop said.

New London is the first city in the state and the 18th in the country to be receive the designation.

Vice Adm. Sandra Stosz was happy to return to New London just two months after finishing up her tour as superintendent of the Coast Guard Academy.

Stosz, who is now deputy commandant for mission support, a job based in Washington, D.C., was there on behalf of Adm. Paul Zukunft, commandant of the Coast Guard, who, she said, was in Cuba on a special mission.

The relationship between New London and the Coast Guard dates back to 1790, Stosz said, when one of the first 10 revenue cutters was stationed here.

The men and the women of the Coast Guard "couldn't perform the service to our nation without the strong support of the people of New London and our community," she said.

Although it's only a recognition, it's one that many in New London are proud to have.

Mayor Daryl Justin Finizio, in his remarks, touted the National Coast Guard Museum in the works for downtown New London.

"The people of the City of New London today humbly accept this recognition and renew our commitment to support the Coast Guard, not only by continuing our own involvement in and support for the National Coast Guard Museum project but also by adding our voices to those of our congressional representatives until together we ensure that the Coast Guard is honored in the way that today the Coast Guard has honored our great city," the mayor said.

Many of the attendees at the Coast Guard city event were later attending a reception hosted by the National Coast Guard Museum Association on board the Coast Guard barque Eagle.

With a new captain and several different contingents of cadets on board, the Eagle docked at City Pier Friday morning, marking the end of the 2015 cadet summer training program.

The ship has a new skipper. Capt. Matt Meilstrup, commanding officer, sailed on the Eagle in 2000 as the operations officer, and said Friday he "made mental note that this is what I wanted to do when I got a little older."

Meilstrup has been on board about two months now, and it hasn't always been smooth sailing.

One night last week around 2:30 a.m., Meilstrup was told to come immediately to the bridge of the ship, "which always implies there's something going wrong," he said.

"It was pitch black, and I rounded the front of the pilot house, and I was just beset by this rainstorm. I was drenched before I got to the wheel. I'm in shorts and a T-shirt because when they call you, you come," he said. "Lightning cracking overhead ... We had about 45 knots of sustained wind over the side ... you're looking at the world sideways."

In the moment, Meilstrup didn't remember that "there were trainees on the head."

"There were swabs up in the helm, navigating. They're doing everything," he said.

One young woman, he said, who has been struggling with confidence issues was one of the people on the helm. Afterward, she confided in the chaplain, Meilstrup said, that the experience was "absolutely terrifying" but also "exciting."

"You know she's standing a little taller, walking a little prouder," Meilstrup said. "That's why we're here."

The Eagle is no stranger to New London, her longtime homeport. However, for the past several years and for a few more, the tall ship has spent winters in Baltimore for extensive work and maintenance as part of a service life extension project.

The Eagle will return there within the next couple of weeks and will be there until early March, according to Chief Warrant Officer Erin Stapleton, training officer.

Built in 1936, the Eagle last underwent an overhaul from 1978 to 1982.

Last year, the ship underwent a significant overhaul of the hull. The work to be done this winter includes lead abatement, inspection and refit of the mast, and installing new life rafts. 

"We've started a comprehensive rigging replacement and inspection," Stapleton said. "The foremast was done last year, the mainmast was done this year and then we're going to be doing the mizzenmast, and that's going to be anywhere from a 5- to 15-year cycle, depending on the actual condition of the mast. That's a lot of our worry ... there's not a baseline done, so we need to get a baseline to figure out where the mast condition is exactly at."

Overall, the ship is in great shape, Stapleton said.

"The German steel is amazing. They just don't make steel like it anymore," he continued.

Port calls this summer included Key West, Fla., the Bahamas, Bermuda and most recently Newport, R.I.

Eagle is also no stranger to swab Camisha Moore, a native of New London.

Moore, who along with other swabs had been on the ship for a week, explained that one of the first things they did was a drill where the swabs keep one hand on their shipmate in front of them and their eyes closed so that they learn how to get out of the boat in case of an emergency like a fire.

The drill made her feel nervous about the Eagle at first.

"After a day or two, you kind of figure out how the Eagle works and that intimidation factor goes away," Moore said.

In addition to Coast Guard Academy cadets and swabs, members of the Army's junior reserve officer training corps, the Navy's sea cadet corps, Sea Scouts, cadets from other military academies and Japanese Coast Guard cadets were also onboard.

Michael Hughes, 20, of Ledyard, a cadet at the U.S. Air Force Academy, was on board the Eagle as part of an exchange program between other military academies. He'll spend this semester at the Coast Guard Academy. His brother David graduated from the academy, and told him a bit about the Eagle.  

"I don't know if I'll ever have that experience again, being out in middle of the ocean, nothing around you at night. You could see all the stars. You could see the Milky Way," Hughes said.

The Eagle will be docked at City Pier for the rest of the weekend and will be open for tours.

j.bergman@theday.com

Twitter: @JuliaSBergman