| LEGO → System → Town → Nautica |
6542 Launch & Load Seaport is a Town Nautica released in 1991.
Description[]
This set contains a seaport with a fixed wharf, a container crane and a guard shack with a turnpike, a cargo ship, a semitrailer truck, five cargo containers, a forklift, a pilot boat, and seven minifigures: Hardhat Jones, a captain, the pilot boat captain, a boat worker, a security guard, a crane worker, and a truck driver. The set contains 1,022 pieces.
The wharf consists of five raised plates (one of them is a ramp) that were originally conceived as railway platforms for the Trains theme. The large container crane sits on two sets of rails which allows it to move along the longer section of the pier. The control cabin sits ontop of the crane's trolley. On one end of the wharf is a large fixed dish antenna on a mast, on the other side is a small guard shack with a turnpike. The shack contains a swivel chair and a monitor.
The cargo ship is named "ATLANTIC". Along the deck are several hatches that provide access to the inside of the ship's hull. The containers are stacked on top of these hatches. The ship's superstructure at the aft houses the main bridge. The deck below it is empty and cannot be accessed despite the windows, but is nevertheless big enough for several Minifigures to stand upright. The bridge contains the steering wheel and several controls on two printed 2x2 slopes. It has just enough room for one Minifigure and can be accessed by tilting up the roof.
The pilot boat is labeled "Y19" and contains a small room in front of an open control stand. The interior can be accessed by tilting up the roof of the fore superstructure with the windshield of the bridge.
The semitrailer's bed is large enough to hold two containers at once. Three containers have open sides and contain a small tractor, a large motor and a set of barrels and boxes, respectively. The two other containers (the white ones) are closed and have doors at one end, both of them are empty.
Minifigures Included[]
 |  |  | |  |  | |
| Hardhat Jones | Captain | Pilot Boat Captain | Boat Worker | Security Guard | Crane Worker | Truck Driver |
Notes[]
- This was one of two large seaports released in the Nautica theme, the other one being 6541 Intercoastal Seaport. The only other LEGO System harbor, 7994 LEGO City Harbor, was not released until 2007. Out of these three sets, the Launch & Load Seaport contained the most pieces.
- An otherwise identical blue version of the small red tractor with its container was included in the sets 6541 Intercoastal Seaport and 6352 Cargomaster Crane. An identical small red tractor was included in the set 4563 Load and Haul Railroad.
- The cargo ship, semitrailer truck, and two cargo containers share the cargo logo with 4549 Container Double Stack, 4555 Cargo Station, and 6375 Trans Air Carrier.
