SV Glenlee

The Glenlee was built at the Bay Yard in Port Glasgow and was one of a group of 10 steel sailing vessels built to a standard design for the Glasgow shipping firm of Archibald Sterling and Co. Ltd.

She is a three masted barque, with length 245 feet, beam 37.5 feet and depth 22.5 feet.

The Glenlee first took to the water as a bulk cargo carrier in 1896. She circumnavigated the globe four times and survived (though not without incident!) passing through the fearsome storms of Cape Horn 15 times before being bought by the Spanish navy in 1922 and being turned into a sail training vessel.

The ship was modified and served in that role until 1969. She then operated as a training school until 1981 when she was laid up in Seville Harbour and largely forgotten.

In 1990 a British naval architect saw her in Seville and two years later, the Clyde Maritime Trust succeeded in buying the re-named Galatea at auction for 5 million Pesetas (£40,000) and saved her from dereliction.

The Glenlee is one of only 5 Clydebuilt sailing ships that remain afloat in the world and she was restored over a six year period by the Clyde Maritime Trust’s paid and voluntary crew.

The other four Clydebuilt sailing ships afloat in the world are also visitor attractions

Balclutha (San Francisco)
Moshulu (Philadelphia)
Falls of Clyde (Hawaii)
Pommern (Finland)

In November 1999, the Glenlee was recognised as part of the Core Collection of historic vessels in the UK. Chosen from a list of over 1,500 ships, the Glenlee is one of only 43 vessels recognised by the National Historic Ships Committee as being of pre-eminent national significance in terms of maritime heritage, historic associations or technological innovation.

The Tall Ship: SV Glenlee is now a major visitor attraction in Glasgow, located beside the Riverside Museum. The Tall Ship is maintained by a paid crew and volunteers, who also carry out restoration and improvement projects.

Information courtesy of the Tall Ship website.