T.S. Pelican

[prv]

At rather short notice (someone posted on Facebook the other day that they were offering discounted berths) I am joining Pelican on Saturday for a week's Channel cruise, Weymouth -> St Malo.

I don't really know much about the ship. Just curious if anyone here has sailed in her, or had any other contact, and has anything interesting to say.

I'm excited, and my excitement usually manifests itself as wanting to find out everything I can about stuff

(As an aside, I've never been to St Malo either...)

Pete

 

[oldbilbo]

She is - or was - based in Weymouth, and is a very interesting 'conversion to sail' best explored with them who nose, on board. I believe you'll find her a comfortable and sea-kindly vessel - and I also believe she sails really well, given a moderate breeze.

The approach to St Malo is, in any decent visibility, quite spectacular, wending along a 5-mile channel between granite islets, rocks and reefs with fast tides cross-setting. At night, the lights of the city and the walled citadel ( 'Intra Mures' ) make this seem a near-magical landfall. In poor visibility, it's a serious challenge to the uncertain navigator.

It seems likely you'll 'lock in' to the basin via a big and deep chamber, which you'll probably share with a couple of impatient local steel trawlers and tripper boats, then turn left to moor alongside the quay. The town-within-the-walls is a very attractive tourist magnet, with more than enough restaurants and bars. Try to take a walk along the top of the walls around sunset, when the view to seaward is similarly spectacular.

You can take a preview courtesy of Google Street View, but perhaps it's better to wait for the real thing. It's one of my favouite landfalls, so your first memory of the place should grow out of the sea.

Enjoi, and come back to tell us here....

 

[Deleted member 36384]

My Recollections Of Pelican

This is my recollection of a ship that I saw on the Clyde for many years, the Pelican, an Arctic Trawler, the ship I knew of was back in the early 1980s.

She was moored for a long time on the Gair Loch, at Gair Loch Head, Firth of Clyde and I sailed around her regularly. She was later moved to Loch Fyne, up at Inverary but was along side a pier this time. This is what she looked like back then alongside the Pier: -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wfm_loch_fyne.jpg

The picture above shows the original hull outline. On the Gair Loch she always looked like a tramp, with tarpaulins, tyres, old rope and stuff all over her; a dreamers boat that would never be renovated. As you can see she was fitted with 3 masts, gaff rigged. I knew that she was moved to Inverary and was being refurbished (not refitted) for some enterprise, but not as a TS. I moved on from my sailing life and lost touch with the Clyde scene and what went on.

To be honest there were a few old boats around the Clyde at that time. However, this Flicker page has thrown up some images of the Pelican at Inverary, with a Puffer named the Vital Spark (not the Vital Spark): -

http://www.flickr.com/photos/59463103@N05/5795934167/

Its great that she has been refitted and repaired with a fantastic rig as well. This boat could so easily have been scrapped. I assume the chap responsible knew about her from his Naval days at Faslane on the Gair Loch, Britain's major submarine base. If he was based there, he would have seen her moored opposite the submarines. Enjoy your sail.

i will have pictures of her in tramp mode, as I took a lot of snaps back then of the working Clyde. All gone, now. Even the sub stuff is low volume traffic, it was so much busier. The Clyde has become cleaned up.

 

[prv]

This is my recollection of a ship that I saw on the Clyde for many years, the Pelican, an Arctic Trawler, the ship I knew of was back in the early 1980s.

Thanks, for the reminder of her former life. Haven't looked at the Flickr pictures yet; will do so with interest.

I knew that she was moved to Inverary and was being refurbished (not refitted) for some enterprise, but not as a TS.

I believe she then went to Norway as a coasting cargo vessel. That's the last job she had before being bought in 1995 for her present role.

Pete

 

[Mtns]

The boat that has been at Inverary Pier for years is "Arctic Penguin". I think it is a converted fishing vessel but is now a museum permanently moored there with "Vital Spark" alongside. I'm pretty sure it is a different boat to Pelican.