She went in search of Paradise ...and now she’s coming home
Campaigners raise funds to restore iconic ship Falls of Clyde
She
is a Clydebuilt survivor that has called Honolulu home for decades.
Now the Falls of Clyde tall ship looks set to be heading back to her birth place.
The tall ship has been a visitor attraction in Hawaii for years but campaigners hope to restore her to her former glory.
Built at the Russells yard in 1878, the Falls of Clyde is the world’s only remaining fourmasted sailing ship.
In a career spanning decades, she sailed the world before settling on the North American Pacific coast.
Over the last 100 years, she’s had a variety of uses, including as an oil tanker, passenger ship and cargo vessel. Once her sailing days were over, she became a static attraction and event space before falling on hard times.
In the 1960s, while in Vancouver, there were plans to sink her to form a breakwater.
Then 50 years later, having been rescued and moved to Bishop Museum in Honolulu, there were plans to plunge her into the depths of the sea as a shipwreck for divers to explore.
After months of work to prevent a similar fate following seizure by harbour authorities, David O’Neill, of Save Falls of Clyde International, is relishing the chance to bring her home.
“She’s been through a hell of a lot in the past 75 to 100 years,” David said.
“Time has not been kind. The last time she got major work done was in 1967.”
He discovered the ship’s plight two years ago and since then has been working tirelessly to plan and fund her return to Scotland.
“We’ve been very much February, with stops also planned in Fort Lauderdale in Florida and Costa Rica.
When she arrives back on the river where she was built – the intention is to convert the 140-year-old vessel into a craft fit for the 21st Century.
“Heritage is important but the message we’re trying to send out is that Scotland can still build ships and be innovative,” David said.
“What we want to do is take this Clyde-built ship that was at the peak of design in 1878 and put her back in the water as the peak of design now.
“We had to have a long look at how this ship could be self-sustaining because we’ve not asked governments or councils for money,” explained David, who closed his business to concentrate on the project full-time.
“This is still a community initiative as far as I’m concerned. I want to turn it into something that helps communities through jobs, skills, learning and training.”
At present, there are several options for putting the ship to use once it is home.
The search is on for a quayside for the ship to dock at, with room for a pop-up museum about the ship and Clyde shipbuilding, as well as a genealogy centre.
But David is keen to stress the ship’s future lies not just permanently moored on the Clyde, but back out on the seas.
Naval architecture students working on their PHDs in Glasgow have been hard at work redesigning the ship for her new future, and have been consulting with Ferguson Marine.
There have been discussions over using the Falls of Clyde as a fairtrade cargo vessel, a sail holiday cruise ship and also for cadet training.
David said: “At the end of the day, if ultimately we don’t succeed, we’ve tried and we’ve come up with some original options to finance her and pay for her without going to the public purse.”