Liverpool's last sailing ship

[John Arton]

Currently in drydock the future of this sailing ship that used to take cargoes of coal, grain etc from Liverpool to Irish ports is uncertain and requires major investment
Rgds
J.A.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-englan...e-61909551.amp

[James Curry]

Would it not be possible to restore her and put her back to trading again as a sail training ship. There must be available employment for her in this so called let's go green world we are aiming to live in. Get her across the river to Cammell Lairds. Surely there would be Lottery grants available for such a project.

[Bill Morrison]

Hi John A. From a book Coastwise Sail, by John Anderson !948. he was bemoaning the lost of the small British sailing Coasters at that time. A lot of photographs of these vessels but not one of De WADDEN of Dublin.

DE WADDEN of Dublin

Originally a very smart and trim steel-built three-masted fore-and-aft auxiliary schooner of 239 tons, built at Waterhuizen, Holland, in 1917, about which time the Dutch turned out so many fine steel schooners. Her over-all dimensions are 119.8' x 24.4' x 10.3', and she is one of the few small schooners having water ballast tanks.
She was also owned by Hall of Arklow and plies in the coasting trade though, during the recent war, she made several trips to Portugal. She used to be one of the most sightly schooners on the coast, but today her rig is but a caricature of it's former glory, as her top masts have been cut down and her bowsprit shortened, making her more of a motor ship than a sailer.

I have a fascination with sailing ships so would hope they save her.
Bill.

[cappy]

Hi John A. From a book Coastwise Sail, by John Anderson !948. he was bemoaning the lost of the small British sailing Coasters at that time. A lot of photographs of these vessels but not one of De WADDEN of Dublin.


I have a fascination with sailing ships so would hope they save her.
Bill.

Well bill not sailing vessels at all really but i recall the herring drifters with a a sail astern in the 50s out of north shields.....all banging down the tyne ....a great sight of older times now gone......cappy

[James Curry]

If the Polly Woodside can be preserved in Melbourne.Polly Woodside is a three-masted merchant ship launched at the yard in 1885 - she's now one of the top tourist attractions in Melbourne, Australia,

Polly.jpg

. Surely a once great port like Liverpool can drum up the money to preserve the De Wadden or better still have her sailing the seas once again.

[John Pruden]

for some reason liverpool council depends a lot on the albert dock but no funds go the other way remember what happend to planet/bar light ship it was a fantastic site to see but was towed away because of so called dues not paid it was the first thing seen from the main road? jp

[Louis the fly]

When I first went to sea I was told by the old timers that the last sailing vessel trading out of Liverpool was named Garpool.

[Lusi Clyne]

Would it not be possible to restore her and put her back to trading again as a sail training ship. There must be available employment for her in this so called let's go green world we are aiming to live in. Get her across the river to Cammell Lairds. Surely there would be Lottery grants available for such a project.

Impossible? Not on paper, but in practice, it would never happen. The ship's keel is warped, rotted, and broken in at least five places. The bow and stern are sagging under their own weight as are the ship's sides. The masts and the rigging are the only thing holding the ship up and without them, she would collapse. This kind of structural damage is a death sentence for any ship, and while theoretically it can be fixed by replacing almost everything on the ship, in reality, the cost and the logistics of this are immense. De Wadden is doomed in every sense of the word and from what I gather has been for a long time. The keel could have been in a bad state as far back as the late 60s, as she frequently took to the bottom at Blairmore Beach in Scotland during the ownership of Terry McSweeney. She was also purposefully aground frequently when Kenneth Kennedy owned her from 72-84 when he would take her out to load sand. The inevitability of the structural damage has been around for a long time, and because of the, let's say, not-so-good maintenance on behalf of NML ever since major works ended in the early 2000s, time has caught up to her, and fast. The costs of getting her out of the dry dock and across to a yard with the facilities to restore her alone are astronomical, as she is riddled with holes and corrosion, as well as her dock gates being rotted shut. You can't lift her out either because the dock foundation is not strong enough to support her weight and the cranes you would need to lift her out and put her onto a barge, let alone do it in a way that didn't cause damage. Speaking of restoration itself, even as a static piece, is practically impossible. As with the previously mentioned things, it's either not possible, too expensive, or both. De Wadden is one of those ships that is well and truly doomed, and any attempt to prolong her life would ultimately be a waste of money and time that could be better spent on the remaining ships under NML's ownership that still have a chance at life. I don't say any of this because I don't care about De Wadden, I do. She's my favourite ship and I've made a whole website about her, this is just the truth of the matter. Regardless, nothing can be done now. Scrapping is due to start next month.

[vic mcclymont]

Everything is possible if you have money.
Examples City of Adelaide, rotting away, with holes in her Hull and deck, moved by barge to Australia.
Cutty Sark, nearly destroyed by fire, restored to he former glory.
Glenlee, restored and now a museum attraction in Glasgow.
Falls of Clyde, a hulk in Hawai, raising money to bring her to th Clyde for complete restoration.
Where there is will there is a way.
Ask Peel Ports to fund they move, it would be change for them, giving instead of taking.
Vic

[Des Taff Jenkins]

I did a trip on the Jams Craig in Sydney, was a rotting coal hulk, but restored, Can't remember at what cost but it has made up all that was spent on it I'm sure.
Des