''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 Coastal trading vessels, also known as coasters or skoots, are shallow-hulled ships used for trade between locations on the same island or continent. Their shallow hulls mean that they can get through reefs where deeper-hulled seagoing ships usua ...

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 cl ...

, France, ''Pelican'' was originally a double-beam Arctic fishing trawler, one of five identical ships built in Chantiers et Ateliers Augustin Normand, 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 regions of Earth, 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 (Greenla ...

. 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 r ...

. 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 vessel for young people, by the charity ''Adventure Under Sail.'' Sail Training International ranks it is a Class A

tall ship A tall ship is a large, traditionally- rigged sailing vessel. Popular modern tall ship rigs include topsail schooners, brigantines, brigs and barques. "Tall ship" can also be defined more specifically by an organization, such as for a race or fe ...

. 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 (maritime), dock system that runs from Brunswick Dock in Liverpool to Seaforth Dock, Seaforth, Merseyside, Seaforth, on the east side of the River Mersey and the Great Float, Birkenhead Docks between ...

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 A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

and environmental research group

Darwin200 Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended fr ...

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