Solway Lass

The beautiful Solway Lass

This is the deck where we mustered and ate our meals.

 The inside lounge to escape bad weather and descend below deck.

The below deck passage to the rooms.

This was my room. I was in the top bunk to the right.

I have always wanted to sail on a tall ship and for those of you who remember I had one booked in Brazil in 2010 but unfortunately it was cancelled as it was taking water on faster than passengers. So I was very happy to find this ship as one of the options for sailing around the Whitsundays.

Here are the highlights of its incredible history:

1902 Launched in Holland as sailed powered cargo vessel originally named Stina first registered port was Hamburg Germany.

1914 Seized by the British as a prize of war and used during WWI as a decoy vessel traveling with convoys of merchant ships.

After WWI used as a coal carrying ship between Liverpool and Scotland.

1924 sold to a Scottish firm who renamed her Solway Lass.

1935 sold to Captain Anderson from Wales who during his first voyage passed away after being overcome by fumes from the new engine (its first) he had installed. The crew took this as a bad omen and abandoned ship and were found floating at sea in a life raft. She drifted around for over a year before she was found and put into use again as a cargo vessel.

1937 She ran aground near Dublin in a snow storm carrying coal. The people of the village stole the coal and she was able to be re-floated.

WWII took broke out and the Germans seized her and used her to supply their troops.

During the war she hit a mine but the Germans repaired her because she was useful as a sail powered ice-breaker and supply ship.

1970 Worked in the South Pacific as a cargo vessel but newer faster ships in the 1980's left her out dated and as a result she fell into disrepair.

1983 Tim Loyd from Sydney purchased her in Fiji.

1988 She participated in the first fleet reenactment of tall ships into Sydney Harbour that commemorated the arrival of the first convicts to Australia. She was the first ship to arrive in Farre Cove.

1999 She was given a four month refit including air conditioning and 11 new guest cabins and a kitchen and galley.

2002 Celebrated 100 years of sailing life.

2002 and 2006 she was further upgraded with new steel in six sections of the hull the decks were replaced and new washrooms and new sails were imported from England.

From 2008 to the present she has served as a tourist sailing vessel sailing around the Whitsunday Islands and I was lucky enough to be on board!