Restoration would be fitting tribute

It will take as much as £1 million to return the North Carr to its former glory but a major fundraising campaign will soon be under way.

Maritime training charity Taymara hopes to submit an application for initial lottery funding within weeks to support a feasibility study.

If successful, there are hopes that the restoration could be completed in time for the 60th anniversary of the loss of the Mona, in December 2019.

The restoration will have to be extensive as time, tide and even preservation efforts have all taken their toll on the vessel.

First to go was its life-saving lantern, stripped when it retired to port in Anstruther to protect its expensive brass fittings from thieves.

Age and general wear and tear have since led to deterioration and corrosion that now cannot be covered by patch-up work.

Ken Millar aims to help Taymara’s fundraising effort in any way he can in the months and years to come.

He said: “I would be very happy to see the North Carr restored. Age is an awful thing and it has done terrible things to the vessel. Sadly she is now looking a little neglected.

“When it came out of service it initially went to Anstruther as a museum piece and they took the lantern out.

“It was an expensive item and came with a lot of valuable brass fixtures and fittings and I believe it is now in one of the Edinburgh museums.

“I would like to see it replaced with a replica so that people could see what the lightship was really like.”

The charity hopes that the refurbished lightship, launched in 1933, will become one of the jewels of Dundee’s waterfront.

The vessel is of historic significance, as one of only two Scottish lightships ever in service, and also of a construction technique – riveting – which gave way to welding.

And for all that the lantern is missing, it remains something of a floating museum, crammed with many of the artefacts that were within when she was first introduced into service.

For many, however, the North Carr’s continued importance comes from the fact that it is effectively a memorial to the Mona lifeboat and her crew, who gave their lives in a forlorn rescue attempt.