Gazela is a barkentine, which has three masts. She is square rigged on the foremast only, the main and mizzens being fore and aft rigged. → More about Gazela’s Rig

She was built the shipyard of J. M. Mendes in Setubal, Portugal to fish the Grand Banks off Newfoundland. Her records, as she now stands, date from 1901 but there is good evidence that many of the timbers used in her construction are from the ship Gazella (spelled with two Ls) which was built in 1883. Portugese stone pine is the primary wood used in her hull and decks while the masts and spars are of Douglas fir.