''Pelican of London'' is a sail training ship based in the United Kingdom. Built in 1948 as ''Pelican'' she served as an Arctic trawler and then a coastal trading vessel named ''Kadett'' until 1995. In 2007 an extended conversion to a sail-training ship was completed.

History

Built in 1948 in

Le Havre Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, very ...

, France, ''Pelican'' was originally a double-beam Arctic

fishing trawler A fishing trawler is a commercial fishing vessel designed to operate fishing trawls. Trawling is a method of fishing that involves actively dragging or pulling a trawl through the water behind one or more trawlers. Trawls are fishing nets th ...

, one of five identical ships built in

Chantiers et Ateliers Augustin Normand Chantiers et Ateliers A. Normand was a French shipyard in Le Havre. They were notable for building small warships in the early part of the 20th century. They also developed the Normand boiler Three-drum boilers are a class of water-tube boiler u ...

, the shipyard founded by the Normand family. She was sold to a Norwegian firm and spent the next 19 years fishing the

Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenland), Finland, Iceland, N ...

. In 1968 ''Pelican'' was converted from a trawler to a coaster. Her owners renamed her ''Kadett''. She remained ''Kadett'' for 27 years until in 1995 she again changed hands. She was bought by ex-Naval Commander Graham Neilson who transformed her into a tall ship and renamed her ''Pelican of London''. He had already undertaken a similar project with the TS ''Astrid''. Working in Portland Harbour, Dorset, UK, Neilson and his team spent 12 years stripping back the trawler and rebuilding her as a main mast

barquentine A barquentine or schooner barque (alternatively "barkentine" or "schooner bark") is a sailing vessel with three or more masts; with a square rigged foremast and fore-and-aft rigged main, mizzen and any other masts. Modern barquentine sailing ...

. A moderate rearrangement of the mainmast standing rigging enables the yards to be braced to half the traditional angle when on the wind, giving the ship unusual windward ability for a square rigger. A trainee on the ship won the 2010 Torbay cup. As of 2012, ''Pelican of London'' is operated as a

sail training From its modern interpretations to its antecedents when maritime nations would send young naval officer candidates to sea (e.g., see Outward Bound), sail training provides an unconventional and effective way of building many useful skills on and ...

vessel for young people, by the charity ''Adventure Under Sail.'' Sail Training International ranks it is a Class A tall ship. In autumn of 2012, ''Pelican of London'' was scheduled to become the first sailing ship in a century to make a trans-Atlantic voyage from the

Port of Liverpool The Port of Liverpool is the enclosed dock system that runs from Brunswick Dock in Liverpool to Seaforth Dock, Seaforth, on the east side of the River Mersey and the Birkenhead Docks between Birkenhead and Wallasey on the west side of t ...

with fare-paying passengers. It's not clear if this voyage took place. Pelican has completed a number of transatlantic voyages. ''Pelican of London'' was advertised for sale in 2012, valued at £2.45 million. In June 2015 it was noted as an attendee of Tall Ships Belfast 2015. Since 2018 the TS Pelican of London is regularly sailing from Europe to the Caribbean and back in cooperation with the German project Ocean College. The voyage takes place in the Winter month between October and April. In 2021 the ship embarked upon a thirteen-week research cruise organised by charity City to Sea and environmental research group Darwin200 to survey the extent of

plastic pollution Plastic pollution is the accumulation of plastic objects and particles (e.g. plastic bottles, bags and microbeads) in the Earth's environment that adversely affects humans, wildlife and their habitat. Plastics that act as pollutants are catego ...

in UK coastal waters.

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://www.seasyourfuture.org/, Tall Ship ''Pelican'' official website
Photos of ''Pelican''Pelican of London leaving southwick
(worthing herald article) 1948 ships Ships built in France Fishing vessels of Norway Merchant ships of Norway Ships of the United Kingdom Sail training Training ships Sail training ships Barquentines Tall ships Tall_ships_of_the_United_Kingdom