Pushing the boat out
Ship built in Liverpool turned into floating museum offering ‘magnificent experience’
THE first ever “floating ship museum” in Cyprus has been unveiled at Girne Port. The vessel, known as the Teal, once belonged to the British Royal Navy before being later transferred to the Australian Navy.
It was constructed in Liverpool in 1955 and was first purposed as a minesweeper, before being used for passenger transportation in Tanzania.
The ship was initially brought to North Cyprus by Near East University (NEU) in 1994, which used it for training and research purposes.
It has now been transformed into a museum capable of hosting more than 5,000 artefacts such as “ship models, nautical maps, pictures and photographs” and which NEU says will offer visitors a “magnificent experience”.
The craft has been placed in a specially constructed area of the port built using 3,500 cubic metres of concrete and which is 56 metres long, 10 metres wide and four metres deep.
The Teal was placed at the port during a ceremony last Friday attended by Near East Enterprises board of trustees chairman Prof Dr İrfan Suat Günsel, NEU founder Dr Suat Günsel and Public Works and Transport Minister Erhan Arıklı.
Prof Günsel said in a speech that the fact that “we did not have a comprehensive maritime history museum that would reflect our rich maritime culture and history” was “a great shortcoming and loss for our country and region”.
He expressed his pride at rectifying that shortcoming while adding that the ship has been used to train “dozens” of captains since 1994.
Dr Arıklı also made a speech at the event, saying that he was “honoured” to be present “as we take a big step towards the establishment of the Maritime History Museum”.
He also said that Prof Günsel’s father Suat Günsel had once told him that “I am a citizen of these lands, and I will invest every penny I earn in these lands”. He closed his speech by calling the project “visionary”.