TS Royalist - final passage

[Phoenix of Hamble]

Taken by a friend today.... TS Royalist, which I know many of you have been on, has just come into Portsmouth for her final trip, as she heads to be decommissed.

Sad to see her go, and I, as I am sure many of you do too, have happy memories of her.

 

[sailorman]

What will happen to her

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

She's being scrapped.... needs more working doing to make her safe than makes sense financially.

The SCC have a replacement in build.

 

[prv]

Scrapping her seems a shame, even if regulation means she can't be used for youth training any more. One of the STA schooners was turned into a yacht, wasn't she?

If only Dan Crane had a bit more money

Pete

 

[Eyore]

She's being scrapped.... needs more working doing to make her safe than makes sense financially.

The SCC have a replacement in build.

They obviously don't build em like they used to, seems like a very premature end for a vessel that must have been well maintained over the years.

 

[sailorman]

There must be an over seas market for her

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

I can't remember the details, but she had some structural issues that I recollect, that neccessitated her decommissioning.

 

[Romeo]

Scraping her seems a shame, even if regulation means she can't be used for youth training any more. One of the STA schooners was turned into a yacht, wasn't she?

Malcolm Miller is sailing again. Oh her way from the Baltic to the South Coast of England at the moment. re rigged.... still a 3 masted schooner but no gaff rig and no square sails. Great that she is back in use.

 

[Romeo]

The new Sea Cadet flagship is to be called..... TS Royalist.

 

[capnsensible]

They obviously don't build em like they used to, seems like a very premature end for a vessel that must have been well maintained over the years.

She was built in 1971. Her replacement is designed to last 40 years. Dit here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TS_Royalist

 

[dombuckley]

Ive not seen any photos of the new ship in build (due to be launched next week), but there is this drawing:

She's only 2 metres longer, but looks a lot more boxy than her predecessor. I fear she may not be a looker, though you can never quite tell from the page.

Looks like a proper poop deck aft with a very exposed helm position. Not a protected cockpit, like the present vessel. Helmsman's view forward will be heavily restricted by the low course sails.

Larger square sails, with comparatively smaller staysails: almost certainly won't go to windward as well as her predecessor, which could point to 55 deg and give the STA schooners a run for their money upwind. Long fin and skeg underwater arrangement will make her appreciably faster, however.

Interesting to see how she shapes up, but sad to see the old girl go - so many happy memories.

 

[DJE]

Greeted by the harbour tugs on arrival:-

Curtesy of my mate who drives a workboat for the dockyard!

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

Pleased to see she got a proper and fitting welcome back as she came into the harbour.

 

[JumbleDuck]

She was built in 1971. Her replacement is designed to last 40 years.

And is being built in Spain. Seems a shame that we can do flashy bling-bling motor boats, but not even a fairly small sailing ship any more.

 

[jerrytug]

"and when the Dons sight Devon, I'll quit the port of Heaven,
And we'll drum them up the channel as we drummed them long ago"

built in Spain? Surreal.

 

[prv]

And is being built in Spain. Seems a shame that we can do flashy bling-bling motor boats, but not even a fairly small sailing ship any more.

I'm sure we have yards that could do the work, but presumably the Spanish are cheaper.

Pete

 

[dancrane]

I'll be very sad to see Royalist no longer. I certainly wish I had a fat lottery win, with which to pour restoration funding into this old brig. And, I'd have a British yard do it!

I've only ever happened to glimpse her very unexpectedly - out of a bank of mist south of Ventnor, where I stood scanning otherwise empty seas on a blustery day this June; also from Red Funnel ferries, as well as when crossing the Solent on an overloaded Topper, something over twenty years ago...other times too, but never predictably. I suppose that's because despite her very distinctive style, she's actually quite small and doesn't stick out very formidably against a skyline from great distances.

I'm sorry if her replacement is not as pretty. It's unfortunate if the designer hasn't recognised the importance of a training ship's traditional beauty among bland, ugly modernity...

...after all, any unique vessel's sheerline, overhangs and rig can produce whatever visual effect the designer wishes - and a subtly stylish profile within practical limits, surely needn't be much costlier than a boxy one. When she enters any port for the next four decades, she may either excite affection, delight and admiration, or mere passing curiosity.

 

[snowleopard]

She's being scrapped.... needs more working doing to make her safe than makes sense financially.

I was on a maintenance session on Lord Nelson in dry dock. We were replacing some hull plating in the bilges that had become too thin with rust. It's a constant battle and LN is 10 years younger than Royalist.

 

[Alfie168]

I remember coming across her in Oban in the summer of 1988. I'm sure I've seen her in the Solent from a distance.

Tim

 

[KINGFISHER 8]

Lack of a pretty sheerline probably to do with wheelchair accessibility.