The tall ship Lord Nelson is preparing to return to sea after more than half a decade alongside, with its new owners planning to use the vessel for humanitarian, environmental and sail-training work.
“We are grateful to be able to resurrect such a fine ship, by putting her to good use helping remote island communities, training the next generation of tall ship sailors and creating a platform for positive change on the oceans,” says Captain Locky MacLean.
From lay-up to sailing again
Lord Nelson was laid up in 2019 after the Jubilee Sailing Trust, its former owner, went into liquidation. The vessel has remained dockside since then and was at risk of being scrapped.
Over the past eight months, volunteers working with Good Pirates have been repairing and refitting the ship at Barry Docks in Wales. The group describes itself as a collection of sailors, adventurers, maritime professionals and ocean campaigners.
The vessel is now scheduled to leave Barry Docks this weekend for a two-year mission.
A working role for the vessel
Good Pirates is not simply looking to return Lord Nelson to the water as a historic sailing vessel. The group intends to use it as a base for a range of activities, including humanitarian missions, education, adventure and ocean conservation.
MacLean says the aim is to work with remote island communities while also providing training opportunities for the next generation of tall ship sailors.
The organisation says the ship will also provide a platform for bringing people together around issues affecting the oceans. That gives the vessel a different role from simply preserving a piece of maritime heritage.
Eight months of repairs
The return has taken eight months of repair and refit work, carried out with the involvement of volunteers.
More information about the group is available on its Facebook page.
The work comes after a much longer period in which the future of the vessel was uncertain. Its previous operator, Jubilee Sailing Trust (JST), went into liquidation in 2019, leaving Lord Nelson laid up.
How Lord Nelson went from sail training ship to auction
The planned return of Lord Nelson follows a difficult financial history, which ultimately saw the tall ship taken into administration and put up for sale to repay creditors. The ship’s story is closely tied to the financial pressures that had built up around JST over several years, including emergency fundraising appeals, rising operating costs and the difficulty of generating enough income to run two large sailing vessels.
The £1m emergency appeal
The problems became public in June 2019, when JST launched an emergency £1m fundraising appeal, saying the money was needed within a week or the charity would have to cease operating. The appeal followed months of mixed messages about the charity’s financial position. The target was met and exceeded, but questions were subsequently raised about how the money would be used.
Lord Nelson was decommissioned shortly afterwards, despite supporters having understood that the emergency fundraising was intended to secure the future of the trust and its two ships, Lord Nelson and Tenacious.
In January 2020, MIN examined the circumstances around the appeal and the financial pressures facing JST, noting that the charity had been carrying debt associated with the construction of Tenacious, while both ships had also accumulated maintenance requirements.
A second funding crisis
The financial pressure did not go away.
In April 2022, JST launched another emergency fundraising campaign, this time seeking £500,000 by 14 April, with an overall target of £1.2m by September 2022.
JST ultimately exceeded the initial £500,000 target, but questions were raised by supporters over how donations would be used. JST offered donors the option of withdrawing their contributions if they did not support the proposed use of funds.
At that point, the sale of Lord Nelson was already part of the charity’s financial strategy.
Administration changes the picture
In August 2022, Jubilee Sailing Trust Ltd entered administration after one of its principal creditors threatened legal proceedings to recover money owed. At that time JST explained that the trust owned Lord Nelson, while a separate company, Jubilee Sailing Trust (Tenacious) Ltd, owned and operated Tenacious. The administration meant that Lord Nelson would pass to the administrators and be sold, with the proceeds used towards repayment of creditors.
Lord Nelson goes to auction
Lord Nelson‘s sale eventually took the form of an online auction in June 2023.
Gordon Brothers handled the sale, with the auction opening at £150,000 and closing on 30 June 2023.
The vessel, built in 1985, had been designed to allow people with different physical abilities to sail alongside the crew. Its features included accessible toilets, a speaking compass, braille and a power-assisted bridge.
The auction was intended to generate funds for creditor repayment, rather than representing a planned continuation of JST’s sail-training operation.
Lord Nelson‘s subsequent return to a working role therefore represents a significant change in the vessel’s fortunes: from decommissioning and administration, through an attempted sale and auction, to a new plan for humanitarian, environmental and sailing activities.
MIN understands – but has not yet been able to confirm – that former sister ship Tenacious remains at Sharpness Dock. Jubilee Sailing Trust (Tenacious) Ltd ceased trading in December 2023, leaving the vessel with the Official Receiver. A campaign is now seeking a new owner or operating organisation to take on Tenacious, which requires further surveys, certification and investment before she can sail again.
The post Lord Nelson to return to sea after seven-year lay-up appeared first on Marine Industry News.
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