Ship’s many lives

“If a cat has nine lives, how many can a ship have?” enquires Montrose Port Authority honorary archivist John Aitken. He emails: “The reason I ask is a vessel built in Montrose and completed on May 20 1920 is expected to enter her fifth ‘life’ in the United States.

“The three-masted sailing schooner Alvei has been purchased by a new owner in Connecticut. He acquired her in Samoa and plans to sail her to New Zealand in preparation for her ultimate destination at Mystic Seaport.

“Built as a steam herring drifter by Montrose Shipbuilding Co. Ltd and named Tweenways (R356), she initially fished out of Ramsgate in Kent. A naval career took over between 1939-46 when she was requisitioned for minesweeping duties. After the Second World War, she was sold to owners in Denmark and, the following year, was converted to a motor cargo ship. Six years later she received modifications which were undertaken by another owner in Norway. A lengthy series of names and owners followed as she traded between the many islands and through the deep fjords of the coast of Norway.

“In 1986 she was found at Kristiansand to be purchased yet again. Another change of use beckoned and she was sailed down to Gaia in Portugal to undergo a conversion to a three-masted schooner. Renamed Alvei, Norse for ‘one who travels everywhere’, she set sail in 1995, at the ripe old age of 75, on a shake-down cruise to Vigo.

“In 2007-8 she was posted missing by the relative of a crew member while on a cruise from Port Vila, Vanuatu via Norfolk Island to Nelson, New Zealand. She was found safe and well in the South Pacific. She had been delayed by contrary winds.

“She is a great testimony to the shipyard employees in Montrose who built her original hull.”