Saw The Swan

I am not a boat person.  Anyone in my family will tell you that I don’t do boats.

But I do love The Swan.

When she is in harbour, I always go and have a little look.

It is always nice to see a beautiful boat.

A bit of The Swan’s history – she was built in Lerwick, launched in 1900 and was considered to be “one of the finest fishing boats afloat in the North of Scotland”.

She is a Fifie and was originally used for white fish (longline fishing) in the spring and herring (driftnet fishing) from May to September.

She was retired as a fishing boat in 1950, had several different owners and ended up sinking in Hartlepool.

She was then refloated and sold back to Shetland to be fully restored and turned into a sail training ship.

Both my daughters have sailed on The Swan when they were at Primary School.

While I was looking at my photos, I asked them about their experiences.

Daisy said she was seasick (so like her Mum) but it was “a very pretty boat”.

Flossie said, in typical Floss fashion, “We got a thing of juice and a biscuit.  I wasn’t at all seasick but Teacher was” and then sniggered to herself at the memory!

Every child in Shetland has probably been out on The Swan.

And where else would you see a loan Viking walking past the bus stop?

For more information about The Swan – and I will confess that I had to look it up as I knew nothing really – The Swan Trust and National Historic Ships UK.

And now, I think, I would quite like to go out as long as there were no waves, no rocking and no moving of the horizon!

I am not good on boats.  I just don’t do them.

5 thoughts on “Saw The Swan

  1. Terri

    Very interesting. How unfortunate that it once sank — and what an effort it must have been to restore it and make it serviceable. Thank you for sharing. (The Viking is a nice local touch.)

    Reply
  2. Margaret Robinson

    OMG – that’s an amazing ship and I hope we’ll have a chance to see it when there! Neither one of us does ships (though we did a Viking River Cruise last fall, but those don’t count as the water is never turbulent on the rivers).

    What a great for the youngsters and a memory (no matter what kind) that will last them forever! MMR

    Reply
  3. Margaret Robinson

    Ha, ha, ha…………..we’re with you. No boat rides for us, but we wouldn’t mind seeing this beautiful boat from a distance. So glad it’s being used and children are so impressed (well, some of them) by special outings like this. What a delight!

    Reply
  4. Linda

    What a beautiful ship, and kudos to those who saved/refurbished her!

    Love the “Lone Viking” – his fellow warriors are probably in the pub…

    Reply

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