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Sunday, 11 February 2018
Kommandøren
Built in 1891, the Kommandøren was typical of a small Danish cargo vessel of the period. In 1972 she was purchased by Erik Hays Thegersen and names “Kommandøren” of Rømø and berthed in Københaven. In 1983 she moved to the UK to act as a home base for Hays Ships Ltd. Kommandøren continues to be used to promote Hays Ships
Friday, 26 September 2014
Pogoria
The Sail Training Ship Pogoria was launched in 1980 at the famous Lenins Shipyard in Gdansk, the cradle of Solidarity movement. During her construction, the future leader of the general strike and later President of Poland and Nobel Peace Prize winner - Lech Walesa, was the yard electrician. She was built for the Iron Shackle Fraternity - a marine educational project sponsored by Polish National Television, conceived and founded by Capt.Adam Jasser. The current operator of Pogoria is the Sail Training Association Poland.
Specifications
Shipping type: three masted barquentine
Home port:Gdynia
Year of built:1980
LOA:48 m
Beam:8 m
Draft:3.8 m
Sails:1.000 sq.m
Displacement: 295 t
Speed under power: 8 kts
Crew: min 6, max 56
Sunday, 10 November 2013
Saturday, 13 July 2013
LIV
During this period the statistics show that 132 people were saved from a certain death, 41 ships were saved and 1 338 boats and ships were assisted.
LIV was sold in 1932 to the local Sheriff H.W Hansen at Ibestad, near Harstad and used by the sheriff for his service and also for control of the fisheries.
In 1945, LIV was used as a ferry between Jakobsnes and Kirkenes, certified for 60 passengers.
LIV has participated in 6 Cutty Sark Tall Ships races (1980, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1989, 1997) with very good results. She was First 1 in class, 4 times.
She is seen here at Greenock while participating in the Tall Ships event of 2011.
Sunday, 5 August 2012
Bessie Ellen
Bessie Ellen is a trading ketch built in Plymouth in 1904,she now sails with charter crews around Europe.
Monday, 12 March 2012
Saturday, 31 December 2011
SS Christian Radich
Monday, 1 August 2011
Irene of Bridgewater




Built by F J Carver and Son in Bridgwater, 1907, Irene is the last of the West Country Trading Ketch's still under sail. She sailed for 50 years as part of the fleet of British Merchant vessels through two world wars and a Great Recession.
For many years she belonged to the Bridgwater Brick and Tile Company plying the waters of the Bristol Channel between Bridgwater and Ireland, carrying cargoes of tiles and bricks. Later she was used for transporting coal and clay around the coast.
She was built to be beached and often unloaded her cargo into carts to be taken by horse across the sands to small isolated communities.
She retired from her trading service in 1960 and then changed hands a few times before being converted to a house boat.
In 1965 she was found in a derelict state in the Hamble river by her present owner, Doctor Leslie Morrish. He bought her for £2,500.00 and began a restoration job that lasted nearly 20 years. His initial task was to motor-sail Irene around to Brentford on the Thames, Irene's home for the next 15 years. The trip was not without mishap; going under Hammersmith Bridge the bowsprit stuck in the last span of the bridge, pierced the pavement, shut the bridge in the rush hour and cut off the gas supply to half of south London. It was a dramatic start to a new life.
When Irene reached Brentford Leslie Morrish and his family lived on board using her as a house boat and restoring her at the same time. Once she had been restored to her former glory she was used for many commercials, film and fashion shoots. Irene played the part of "The Flying Dutchman" in the epic film biography of the composer Richard Wagner.
Four years ago Irene undertook the Atlantic and made the crossing to the Caribbean where she has been available for exclusive charter ever since.
Wednesday, 13 July 2011
Gloria












Purpose-built in 1968 as a sail-training ship in the Celeya shipyard in Spain, the Gloria is over 56 meters (257ft) long - one of the biggest tall ships still afloat. She is steel-hulled, but there is plenty of polished wood and brass and her four masts and 23 sails give her an appearance of being even older than she is (every step on the ship has the name Gloria embedded in the solid brass escutcheon scuff-plates). Her figurehead, coated in glittering gold-leaf, is called Maria Salud, reputedly after the sculptor's daughter.