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HISTORY
Glenlee is a steel-hulled three-masted barque, built in 1896 for
Glasgow owners, trading as a cargo ship. From 1922 she was a
sail training ship in the Spanish Navy. She is now a museum ship
at the Riverside Museum on Pointhouse Quay, Glasgow, known as
The Tall Ship at Glasgow Harbour.
Description
Glenlee was built by Anderson Rodger & Company at their Bay
Shipyard in Port Glasgow for the Glen-line of the Glasgow
shipping company Archibald Sterling & Co. Ltd., and was launched
on 3 December 1896. She has a hull length of 245.5 ft (74.8 m),
beam of 37.5 ft (11.4 m) and depth of 22.5 ft (6.9 m), the
over-all length with the spike bowsprit is 282 ft (86 m).
She has 1,613 GRT and 1,490 NRT. Rigged only with double
topgallant sails over double top sails, she was not equipped
with royal sails (baldheader rigging) to save costs concerning
gear and seamen. As with many baldheaded sailing ships the
square sails were a little wider than the sails of a standard
rigging to gain sail area for a better propulsion.
Career
On 13 December 1896, just ten days after she was launched fully
rigged and seaworthy, her maiden voyage brought her in ballast
to Liverpool and from there with a general cargo to Portland,
Oregon. For 23 years she traded as a bulk cargo carrier under
the Red Ensign via Cape of Good Hope to Australia, returning via
Cape Horn, firstly under the ownership of Archibald Sterling and
Co, Glasgow, then as Islamount of Islamount Sailing Ship Co Ltd
(Robert Ferguson & Co), Dundee(1898-1905), and finally with the
Flint Castle Shipping Co Ltd (Robert Thomas & Co), Liverpool
(1905-1918).
Islamount was renamed the Clarastella in 1919 when she changed
hands to the Star of Italy Italian Shipping Company (Italian:
Società Italiana di Navigazione Stella d'Italia) of Milan who
registered her in Genoa. The new owner had her repaired and
equipped with two auxiliary diesel engines (1922).
In 1922 the ship came into the hands of the Officers' Military
Navy School (Spanish: Escuela Naval Militar de Oficiales) as
Galatea to be used as a sail training ship. During this period
the ship underwent a lot of changes to her hull and
superstructure. A flying bridge was installed on the poop deck,
a flying jibboom was attached to the spike bowsprit, and many
other changes such as the installation of accommodation
facilities for 300 cadets.
In April 1931 she became part of the Spanish Republican Navy. At
the time of the coup of July 1936 she was at sea and reached
Ferrol, a harbour that had been taken by the Nationalist
faction.
Preservation
After more than 47 years of service as a sail and later on as a
stationary training ship she was first laid up in A Graña,
Ferrol, her Spanish port of registry. In 1981 the underwater
hull was re-plated at the drydock in Ferrol. Later Galatea was
completely de-rigged down to a hulk (all yards with standing and
running rigging and even the masts removed) and was towed to
Seville to be used as a floating museum, but left forgotten.
Some sources even reported that the ship was sunk in the harbour
by removing her bronze sea cock valve, but salvaged later by the
Spanish Navy.
In any case, the ship was in such poor condition that it was
eventually decided to scrap her. In 1990 a British naval
architect (Dr. Sir John Brown, 1901-2000) discovered the ship
and in 1993 she was rescued from being scrapped and subsequently
bought by the Clyde Maritime Trust at auction for ₧5000,000 or
£40,000. After making the hull seaworthy (all openings on deck
were closed and the flying bridge spanning the poop deck during
her service in Spain and the attached flying jibboom were
removed) the ship was returned to Glasgow months later in tow
from Seville.
After preliminary works in dry-dock such as the removal of the
unnecessary propellers, the check and repair of all the plates
below the waterline and new paint, a six-year-long process of
restoration began including a new cut wooden figurehead, a
complete set of new rigging including the re-assembling and
re-stepping of her original masts and re-crossing of the old
yards (1998), as well as many other replacements (original
deckhouses) and repairs. Her old masts and many of the old
yards, which still existed somewhere in Spain, were given back
by the Spanish when they realized that the old ship would be
really renewed to her original "Cape Horn status", painted grey
again with "gun ports".
Except for the hull a new ship had to be rebuilt. All the
changes made to the ship by the Spanish and previous owners had
to be removed, such as all the cabins built for the trainees and
a lot of scrap iron ballast in the frames of the holds. First of
all she was given back her original name, Glenlee, by the Lord
Provost of Glasgow on 6 July 1993 when the ship arrived in
Glasgow for the first time since her launch in 1896 at her old
and new port of registry - Glasgow Harbour. Glenlee is now
recognised as part of the National Historic Fleet.
As a museum ship and tourist attraction, Glenlee offers
educational programmes, events including exhibitions and is a
venue for the West End Festival and volunteering opportunities.
Since June 2011, the ship has been open at Glasgow's new
Riverside Museum.
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