A historic Glasgow museum ship has landed £1.8million of funding to keep it afloat on the River Clyde as a testament to the city's shipbuilding heritage for years to come.
The funding comes as the 126-year-old Tall Ship Glenlee celebrates 30 years back in Glasgow and will support essential inspections and repairs needed to help ensure the ship remains a landmark of cultural importance for the city for another three decades, and beyond.
Currently berthed alongside the Riverside Museum, the vessel is the only steel square-rigged cargo vessel remaining in the whole of the UK, and one of just five such Clydebuilt vessels remaining in the world.
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Glenlee was saved from the breaker's yard and returned to the Clyde in 1993 and restored by the Clyde Maritime Trust.
Thanks to the National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF) through its Covid-19 Response Fund, vital checks and repairs will be undertaken to the hull, decks, and rigging of the ship over a two-year period, scheduled to be completed in early 2025.
The Tall Ship, which is currently closed to the public, will remain shut until the end of March 2023 for the first phase of repairs, before reopening to the public for the busy summer months. It will close again in early 2024 for a three-month period for more extensive works.
This year will see initial work carried out within the cargo hold, around the foremast step at the front of the ship, the poop deck, which is the raised deck to the rear of the vessel, as well as the bowsprit – an extension which juts out from the bow of the ship and forms part of her iconic silhouette.
Fiona Greer, Development Director at The Tall Ship Glenlee, said: “This £1.8 million funding is a lifeline for maintaining our beloved Clydebuilt vessel and we are overjoyed to have secured it from the National Heritage Memorial Fund through their Covid-19 Respond Fund. The Tall Ship epitomises the last epoch of sailing ships in the world and has become such an iconic part of the Glasgow skyline and the city’s cultural heritage.
“Although there will be spells of closure in the coming years, we are keen to ensure minimum disruption to our loyal visitors and this funding will ensure all of the essential works required can be carried out as soon as possible. We’re also very excited to be working with a host of specialists who we know care about getting The Tall Ship ship-shape as deeply as we do.
“We look forward to seeing the transformation on board over the next two years so The Tall Ship Glenlee can continue inspiring, delighting and educating hundreds of thousands of people for many years to come.”
Hannah Cunliffe, Director of National Historic Ships UK, said: “Glenlee is a highly significant vessel on the National Historic Fleet, being symbolic of global trade and a rare surviving example of her kind. After delays in planned maintenance resulting from Covid-19, it's wonderful that the Trust is now in a position to undertake these important repairs so that, thanks to support from the National Heritage Memorial Fund, Glenlee can be preserved as an icon of Clyde shipbuilding for many years to come.”
This year marks 30 years since the 126-year-old former merchant navy sailing vessel returned from Spain to be restored and placed back on the River Clyde. The only surviving example of its kind in the UK, the ship is of great historical importance. It circumnavigated the globe five times, sailed the seas carrying cargo in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and survived both World Wars.
Operating as both a landmark and an attraction open to the public, The Tall Ship Glenlee provides a unique space for learning, heritage, enjoyment and community engagement by sharing stories of the people and places involved in the vessel’s rich history. The 19th-century ship welcomes hundreds of thousands of visitors each year and is the last remaining three-masted Clyde-built sailing ship still afloat in the UK.
The vessel is owned by The Tall Ship Glenlee Trust, which manages and cares for the vessel and has a mission to share the ship’s rich history and heritage, preserve it for the future, and maintain and celebrate its unique relationship between Glasgow and the world for all to enjoy.
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