Photographs and article re the Tall Ship, SV Glenlee, at the Broomielaw on the River Clyde in Glasgow

Tall Ship ( old sailing vessel ) at Broomielaw in Glasgow

The "Tall Ship" on the River Clyde

The Glenlee is a three masted barque,

launched in 1896.

She is now a museum ship at Yorkhill Quay,

Glasgow,

known as "The Tall Ship",

at Glasgow Harbour.

Glenlee was built by A. Rodger & Company

of Port Glasgow

and has a length 245 feet,

beam of 37.5 feet and depth of 22.5 feet.

After a career as a bulk cargo carrier,

Glenlee was renamed as Galatea,

and used as a training ship in Spain.

In 1990 she was rescued and bought

by the Clyde Maritime Trust.

She was returned to Glasgow

from Seville in 1993

and a process of restoration began.

Glenlee is recognised as part of the Core Collection

of historic vessels in the UK

by the National Historic Ships Committee.

As a museum ship and tourist attraction,

the Glenlee offers educational programs,

venues for exhibitions and the West End Festival

and volunteering opportunities.

She was found abandoned and destined to be scrapped in a Spanish port in the early 1990s. The former
Spanish navy training ship had been languishing for decades and was in poor shape from the glory days of her
launch in 1896 in Port Glasgow.
The Tall Ship Glenlee’s story is one of resilience and survival, but she is now facing another battle as she
celebrates her 125th year - a battle to secure funding for her long term future.
Owned by the Clyde Maritime Trust, her three masts are an impressive sight on the Glasgow riverside skyline and
she is now berthed at the Riverside Museum, at Pointhouse Quay.
Originally a British cargo vessel, under later owners, she was named Islamount and Clarastella, but her
history is a little hazy when she came under Italian ownership, she then became a sail training icon of the Spanish Navy, as Galatea. For 70 years, the ship was dear in the hearts of men who sailed her and the residents of Ferrol,
her home port in Spain.
Trust volunteer and vice chairwoman Elizabeth Allen explained how she was abandoned in Seville and stripped off her brass work and damaged by fire, masts -and yards lowered!
“There was plans for her to be sold by the Spanish Navy. She would have, been scrapped, until somone spotted
her and knew of her history. She is now facing another great battle, but with a 125-year history she is a ﬁghter.
She’s had to be.
It was in 1993 that a now 92 year old founder trustee Hamish Hardie, an Olympian yachtsman who competed for Great Britain in 1948, was on the voyage that brought her home with the help of support tug Wallasey. She finally
returned to the Clyde in June 1993 for the first time, 97 years after her launch.
Mr Hardie recalled: “We were lucky to get her back in several ways really - the auctioneer, the bank, the tug, the
weather, the translation... so much done on trust.
“There was lots of practical goodwill towards the ship, that's how we managed to restore her, thousands of hours of volunteer time and companies helping in kind. The Clyde has a way of not letting go.
Built on the River Clyde at the Bay Yard in Port Glasgow Anderson Rodger and Co, she is one of ﬁve
Clyde-built steel sailing ships still aﬂoat, and is now the only one in the UK.
Made of steel manufactured or rolled locally in Lanarkshire, she took about six months to complete, using
the skills of many different tradesmen, who were masters in the building of a wind-driven cargo ship, built to carry
large loads cheaply over long distances.
She now requires to be taken out of the water and put in dry dock - something that should happen every 10
years. Colin Botfield, trust chairman, said: “We are now overdue in terms of getting her into dry dock. While she is
in brackish water (a mixture of saline and freshwater) which does help, she still really needs to go into dry dock as
the work we can do there in terms of scraping off years of marine growth, replating and painting. Fixing anything
we’ve not been able to see under the waterline, which is vital for her future.
“Closure as a result of Covid and the need to dry dock for hull repairs means we need ﬁnancial help like never
before. Glenlee has survived two world Wars and the Spanish Civil War, numerous roundings of the three great
capes , avoided icebergs and crossed the tropics.
“She has many times weighed anchor and come safe to port and, today, her biggest threats are still money and water.”