The sailing ship Pelican of London that was built at Portland Port by Cdr Graham Neilson RN has left its former home port over the weekend for a special military mission for the Royal Navy.
It is heading down to Gibraltar and then to the Mediterranean with a party of young Royal Navy Officers and Royal Fleet Auxiliary Cadets to literally learn the ropes.
Many Navy services around the world have their own sail training ships and this training role for The Pelican could be almost a lifeline too.
Captain Callum Mc Ardell, himself a former RFA officer, was delighted to be selected to take part in this unique programme for the Royal Navy. Plus at a local level also pleased to bring the ship into Portland yet again where it was built as the ship’s UK base is Barrow In Furness.
He said: “We are here to collect a party of young Navy officers and RFA cadets plus also to embark stores for the four-month training tour around the Mediterranean.
“We will be teaching 21st century sailors vital 19th century maritime techniques like climbing the rigging, steering on the exterior housed wheel. These are all skills that we are very good at teaching. As this is a very manual ship it’s also a career-building step too.
“Portland for us is an excellent base for loading all the stores and bunkering. Plus its the place where she was converted into a sail training ship.” With fewer places currently on Naval ships for continuation training within the Fleet they are using the sailing ship to enhance and develop the young officers’ maritime experiences and skills.
This covers seamanship, navigation and watch keeping duties, using sextants and being able to work with just manual maritime skills.
In order to progress the trainees will need to have logged some several hundred hours of experience across all of those disciplines.
Providing this unique maritime training service to the Royal Navy has given The Pelican a chance to receive a vital financial boost in these cash-strapped times.
Having to normally survive on civilian sail training experiences for the public, this new longer-term income appears to be a game changer for the future of the ship.
Callum, a Dorset based Captain, will be taking the ship in a few days across the Bay of Biscay down to Gibraltar, something he admitted is always a challenge.
He added: “A 26,000 ton RFA that can plough through the waves is one thing but a 45-metre sailing ship really does focus the mind. Not to mention the stomach. Even I am not totally immune from seasickness and working around that is another lesson to be taught to the trainees too.” Pelican of London was built by former Royal Navy Commander, Graham Neilson, who converted the basic metal hull into a splendid three-masted barque in the 1990s.
Source: Dorset Echo – Geoff Moore
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