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| Prince William |
Prince William is one of
two tall ships used by the Tall Ships Youth Trust (formerly the Sail
Training Association). This British charity aims to promote
self-confidence, responsibility, teamwork and similar qualities in
young people through sailing Prince William and Stavros S Niarchos.
The former Sail Training Association was previously equipped with
two schooners, Malcolm Miller and Sir Winston Churchill, but these
were seen as too old for further use (in terms of accommodation and
so on, since the rigs are traditional) and were replaced. As of
November 2007 the Prince William was laid up as the trust awaits the
sale of one of the two brigs.
The TSYT's ships are two-masted brigs, with the rig designed
by Michael Willoughby The hulls were built in Germany as cruise
ships for the West Indies, designed to carry masts and sails and use
them from time to time, but not to be serious sailing vessels. This
project was cancelled and the part-finished hulls were bought in
1997 by the TSYT. They were then modified by Appledore Shipbuilders
to take the strains of a full sailing rig and to improve their
sailing properties, including the addition of a new deeper keel
holding fifty tons of ballast.
Prince William's rig is designed according to traditional rules,
occasionally modified slightly with trainees in mind. The foremast
is slightly shorter than the main mast, but they are otherwise
identical. Each consists of a steel lower mast and topmast and
timber topgallant and royal mast. Spars are steel on the lower and
topmasts (course, lower topsail and upper topsail yards) and timber
above this (topgallant and royal yards). Access to the tops is by a
vertical "jacob's ladder" down to the ratlines, rather than inverted
futtock shrouds. There is a gold sovereign placed under the foremast
where it meets the keel, a tradition supposed to give the ship luck.
The accommodation for voyage crew (ie ordinary paying volunteers)
is in six eight-berth cabins, two for each watch. The accommodation
is air-conditioned, because the ship spends a significant amount of
time in tropical waters each year |
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