The Glenlee heads for a re-fit

Words and Photograph by Stuart Maxwell

 Glasgow’s  world famous Tall Ship has set sail for the first time in ten years. It left her mooring at Yorkill Quay, Glasgow Harbour at 1pm on Wednesday 18 August and headed West in full sail, towards the open sea.

Around 200 people watched as the crew prepared the ship for departure. The barque, built in 1896,  is 245 ft long with a 37.5ft beam. Eventually, to gasps of joy and thunderous clapping, it was ‘up anchor! ‘The Glenlee was released from the quay.

The Tall ship was then towed down the Clyde by two tugboats and was due to reach Garvel dry dock, Greenock, at 5pm. This trip, however, represents only a sabbatical. In Greenock, the lady will receive a £1.5 million renovation and is expected home in approximately three weeks time.

The Clyde Maritime Trust, which owns and maintains the Glenlee, decided a renovation was necessary after it was announced she would tie up alongside the new Riverside Museum, due to open in spring 2011.

Frank Brown, Chairman of the Clyde Maritime Trust, was delighted to see the ship navigating water once more.  Said Frank: ‘This is the Glenlee’s first return to Garvel dry dock since her restoration in 1999 and it is an exciting time as this move has been three years in the planning. The work carried out at Garvel will fit Glenlee for her thrilling new chapter at Riverside’.

Quite a makeover is planned in Garvel. The ship’s hull will be cleaned- no small task- and the back deckhouse will be altered to resemble more closely the ship’s original blueprint.

Since returning from Garvel in 1999, Glasgow’s Tall Ship has attracted over half a million visitors. In the world, it is one of five ships of its kind originally made on the Clyde, and is the only one tied up in Scotland. Of the other four, three can be found in USA and one in Finland.

The Glenlee was built in at Bay Yard, Port Glasgow, in 1890, one of ten steel vessels ordered by Archibald Sterling, a Glasgow shipping firm. After four trips  around the globe and surviving fierce storms, the Glenlee was adopted by the Spanish Navy in 1922 and dispatched as a training vessel. In 1992 the Clyde Maritime Trust decided to bring her home.

Hamish Hardie, Vice-Chairman of the Trust, was part of the team that towed it over 1,000 miles across the Atlantic after purchasing the ship for 8 million pesetas…. or £40,000. Said Hamish: ‘ I bought her in an auction while she was lying in Seville. It was really fabulous to watch her sail away today and she’s in such good condition. I had a similar feeling when she left Spain. She took up many years of my life and I am very attached, but she’s in good hands. The city of Glasgow has always looked after her’.

The Glenlee was crewed and transported by Henry Abram and sons, a Glasgow shipping  company, established in 1899. As they worked their magic and the elegant ship sailed down the Clyde, memerising all, it was hard not to notice a poem, written on a wall: ‘ A thing of beauty is a joy forever’.