Pelican of London

Pelican arriving at Great Yarmouth during the ships 13 week research cruise in organised by the charity City to Sea and environmental research group Darwin200 to survey the extent of plastic pollution in UK coastal waters.

 

Pelican of London is a sail training ship. Sail Training International ranks Pelican as a Class A tall ship.

 

Built in 1948 in Le Havre, France as le Pelican, she was originally a double-beam Arctic fishing trawler, one of five identical ships built in the Chantiers et Ateliers Augustin Normand shipyard. She was sold to a Norwegian firm and spent the next 19 years fishing in the Arctic.

 

In 1968 Pelican was converted from a trawler to a coaster. Her owners renamed her Kadett. Arrested for trafficking a whole cargo of vodka from Finland in 1993, Kadett became an excise sale and her owner went to prison.

 

She was bought in 1995 by ex-Naval Commander Graham Neilson who transformed her into a tall ship and renamed her Pelican of London. He had already undertaken a similar project with the TS Astrid.

 

The ship was motored to Portland Harbour in Dorset where Neilson and his team spent 12 years stripping back the trawler and rebuilding her as a main mast barquentine. A moderate rearrangement of the mainmast standing rigging enables the yards to be braced to half the traditional angle when on the wind, giving the ship unusual windward ability for a square rigger.

 

In September 2007, Pelican of London commenced her maiden voyage to the West Indies for the Seas Your Future charity with a full complement of trainee crew. She spent the winter months under charter to various groups and colleges, sailing between the islands from Grenada to Antigua before a returning with a new group of trainees back to the UK in June 2008.

 

Pelican now has winter and summer programmes and returns to Sharpness Shipyard and Drydock in Gloucestershire once a year where she is maintained before heading back to sea.

 

The ship was advertised for sale in 2012, valued at £2.45 million and Seas Your Future became the owner and operators of Pelican. Since then the charity have worked with many hundreds of young people between the ages of 15 and 30.

 

Name: Pelican of London

Vessel type: Sailing training vessel

Rig: 3 masted barquentine

Home port: Weymouth or Bristol

Flag: United Kingdom

IMO: 5273339

MMSI: 235057366

Call sign: MWAQ

Crew: 9

Trainees: 32

Hull length: 113 ft 6 in. (34.6 m)

Length overall: 147 ft 7 in. (45 m)

Beam: 23 ft. (7.03 m)

Height: 65 ft. 10 in. (20.09 m)

Draught: 12 ft. 11 in. (3.95 m)

Gross tonnage: 226 ton

Deadweight: 260 ton

Cruise speed under sail: 10 knots

Sail area: 4,000 sq. ft. (371.6 m2)

Engine: 1 x Volvo Penta TAMD 120A-CC

Engine output: 1 x 290 hp (216.25 kW)

Builder: Chantiers et Ateliers Augustin Normand, Le Havre, France

Year Built: 1948

Restored and rebuilt; Portland harbour, Dorset

Owner: Seas Your Future (charity)

Operator: Adventure Under Sail (charity)

 

Previous names:

la Pelican until 1968

Kadet until 1995

 

MEDIVAC OFF NEWHAVEN.

Newhaven's Severn class lifeboat David and Elizabeth Acland 17-21 was tasked by HM Coastguard at 4.57 a.m. on 18th. May 2021 after Pelican of London had reported a medical emergency. The casualty, a 29 year old crew member, was receiving medical attention from a medic on board for a compromised airway

The lifeboat launched and proceeding towards the last reported position of the vessel, approximately 15 miles southwest of Newhaven Harbour. Rescue helicopter 175 was also scrambled from Lee-on-the-Solent.

HM Coastguard requested the tall ship to steer a new course, heading towards Newhaven, closing the distance to shorten the interception.

The ship had set sail from Folkestone on 17th. May, beginning a 13 week voyage to circumnavigate the UK. She was heading to Poole with new trainee crew members who had joined in Folkestone

While attempting to voiding the worst of the storms, one of the crew fell ill in the early hours and his condition deteriorated such that at just before 5 a.m. it was assessed that his life was in danger and the decision was made to medivac immediately.

Weather conditions were Force 3 to 4 west by south-west, with good visibility and moderate sea state of 2 m swell.

The rescue helicopter was in the process of lowering the hi-line onto the port quarter of Pelican prior to sending down the winchman. The lifeboat positioned itself on the vessel’s starboard quarter approximately 50 m off, until the helicopter was clear.

The lifeboat prepared to transfer two crew onto the ship to assist the winchman in casualty care. First attempting an approach towards the starboard quarter of the vessel, it became evident Pelican’s outriggers on the side of the hull would cause considerable damage to the lifeboat. The approach angle was adjusted ahead towards the beam of the vessel, allowing little more than a metre of clearance to the stern of the lifeboat from the outrigger.

The two crew members were successfully transferred and the lifeboat stood off, awaiting a situation report. The decision was made to winch the casualty off by helicopter.

The helicopter made an approach to the port quarter and executed another hi-line transfer to get the winchman and casualty up to the helicopter. The two lifeboat crew assisted the extraction of the casualty.

The helicopter departed the scene at 6.25 a.m., taking the casualty directly to Brighton General Hospital (BGH) for further care.

Once the helicopter operations were completed, the RNLI coxswain, Lewis Arnold, requested Pelican to alter her course down sea for safe transfer of his crew back onto the lifeboat. The transfer was successfully made and the lifeboat departed the scene at 6.35 a.m., returning to Newhaven.

Pelican resumed her passage to Poole, where she moored during the evening of 18th. May.

 

ENGINE FAILURE OFF STORNOWAY.

At 2.20 p.m. on 31st. August 2020, Pelican of London with 42 people on board suffered an engine failure in position 57 13.6 N, 006 34.6 W while enroute from Tobermory to Stornoway.

While repairs were carried out the vessel's progress was monitored via AIS by Stornoway Coastguard. At 1.40 a.m. on 1st. September the ship moored in Stornoway.

 

DISABLED OFF SANTA LUCIA.

The US Coast Guard assisted the Pelican of London on 28th. February 2019 after she was disabled 49 miles north of Santa Lucia.

Coast Guard Seventh District Command Centre watch standers received a notification from the UK Rescue Coordination Centre stating that the ship with 42 passengers aboard was unable to start her engine due to an electrical issue.

The Coast Guard Cutter Charles David Jr. (WPC-1107) was diverted and launched a 33 ft. Defender-class boat for troubleshooting. The Charles David Jr. took the Pelican in tow towards Key West and then was relieved by commercial salvors who completed the tow to Key West for repairs.

Done