Farewell to the TS Royalist

[Dockhead]

The Training Ship Royalist, a fixture of English Channel sailing, is soon to be no more, sent off to the scrapyards.

The Royalist has been incredibly active, always sailing somewhere, and you encounter her on every third passage or so in the Channel.

We spent a memorable weekend rafted up to her in the beautiful ancient port of Weymouth. We shared a grog or two with the master, a very charming and interesting seaman.











The Royalist has transformed many generations of boy Sea Cadets into men, since her launching in 1971. Her life at sea has not been without misadventure; a cadet was killed in a fall from the rigging just after the photos above were made.

But it is very sad to see her go to the scrapyard.

[atoll]

new 32m vessel being built in ribadeo, northern spain,i was lucky to be given a tour of the facility last year after meeting some of the engineers whilst on a delivery there.

BBC News - Sea Cadets award Spanish shipyard £4.8 million contract

[Celestialsailor]

Is there a reason for her being scrapped?

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by Celestialsailor

Is there a reason for her being scrapped?

Steel, 43 years old, probably knackered internally, steel ships rust from the inside out....
Life of big steel ships typically 20 years... I've seen some stuffed at 15.... 43 years is old....

[El Pinguino]

I must say I don't see any mention of her being scrapped... just replaced... maybe she will sold on to some one willing to buy cheap and spend way to much money maintaining her... bit like old yachts really........

[pippatheskippa]

Sad to see her go - used to see her often when sailing with John Laing of the Ocean Youth Trust - especially at Tall Ships events in the West Country - many happy memories for many young sailors

[nigel1]

I spent 2 weeks crewing on the Royalist when I was 15 yrs old, she was just about brand new then.
Was onboard her back in June this year when she berthed astern of me in Holyhead.
The bosun and skipper gave me a good tour around the ship, and she is indeed ready for the scrap yard. Some of the deck structures are just held together with paint.

Still, it is always a shame when something like this is scrapped.

[weavis]

The flag is setting on Britain's past.

I toured in the 80's either in Southampton or Portsmouth, Cant remember, and it is one more thing that is no more. Like my 'new' school built in 1970 and me attending in 1971 for 2 years........ they are about to pull it down as being old.

My Army childhood homes in Germany, Australia, Belgium, India and Singapore
now all gone, and the Royalist has joined the past memories.

My timbers are shivering.

[Steadman Uhlich]

I like boats like that and think it is cool that schooling or training square riggers still exist, as I respect the traditions of the sea and ships.

What surprises me is that the replacement is not being built by a yard in the UK.

I would expect that as a matter of pride in the maritime tradition of the country it would be built IN the UK.

[atoll]

Originally Posted by Steady Hand

I like boats like that and think it is cool that schooling or training square riggers still exist, as I respect the traditions of the sea and ships.

What surprises me is that the replacement is not being built by a yard in the UK.

I would expect that as a matter of pride in the maritime tradition of the country it would be built IN the UK.

labour rates in the uk are more than double those of spain in the ship building industry......,that is what we have left of a ship building industry!

the far-east,and our unions killed the uk yards over the last 40 years,no way we could compete,plus we failed to adopt modern mass production shipbuilding techniques during that crucial period................

......mind you if you want a nuclear submarine or aircraft carrier,and can write a blank check and don't mind it taking twice as long,and costing twice as much as expected

[Steadman Uhlich]

Originally Posted by atoll

labour rates in the uk are more than double those of spain in the ship building industry......,that is what we have left of a ship building industry!

the far-east,and our unions killed the uk yards over the last 40 years,no way we could compete,plus we failed to adopt modern mass production shipbuilding techniques during that crucial period................

......mind you if you want a nuclear submarine or aircraft carrier,and can write a blank check and don't mind it taking twice as long,and costing twice as much as expected

I suspected something like that. Unfortunate for the UK maritime industry.

What will become of boatbuilding in the UK?
Perhaps in the future Ye Olde Walmartte (the hypothetical UK branch of the world's largest retailer) will source boats made in China and make them available in their online store, along with plastic chairs and plastic buckets and plastic everything else, using non-union labor and lowest possible cost materials and production. They could also have a "Sam's Choice" line of boats for the USA. (Note: This was intended to be tongue in cheek humor or humour folks.)

On a side note regarding my thinking that a nation's maritime sail training vessel would be built IN the country it serves, built by their best marine craftsmen, shipwrights and naval architects, the Barque USCGC Eagle (USCG training vessel) was NOT built in the USA, but was part of the spoils of war (WW2), being the former German SSS Horst Wessel.

[weavis]

Originally Posted by Steady Hand

On a side note regarding my thinking that a nation's maritime sail training vessel would be built IN the country it serves, built by their best marine craftsmen, shipwrights and naval architects, the Barque USCGC Eagle (USCG training vessel) was NOT built in the USA, but was part of the spoils of war (WW2), being the former German SSS Horst Wessel.

So its a good boat then...........

[Sailorbob8599]

Originally Posted by Steadman Uhlich

I like boats like that and think it is cool that schooling or training square riggers still exist, as I respect the traditions of the sea and ships.

What surprises me is that the replacement is not being built by a yard in the UK.

I would expect that as a matter of pride in the maritime tradition of the country it would be built IN the UK.

As was explained in the link in a previous post: -

Spanish shipyard Astilleros Gondan has been awarded a £4.8m contract to build the Sea Cadets new training ship.
Sea Cadets charity MSSC said it worked hard to keep the contract in the UK but that it proved too expensive to do so.
A spokeswoman said 55% of the vessel's content would be UK sourced. It will replace the 40-year-old TS Royalist.
The Sea Cadets Corps is a national youth organisation which is sponsored by the Royal Navy, and has more than 30,000 cadets and volunteers.

[Sailorbob8599]

Originally Posted by weavis

So its a good boat then...........

Yarwhol mein Kapitan, das ist schwern goote.

[Richard5]

In response to atoll's post (#10), here is a video. It is a well made documentary which speaks of the sad state of affairs along the Thames. I enjoyed the video to the end.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJ-cvVrlNlU