Gloucester Docks &
the Sharpness Canal

Square Sail on the Canal

For more on ships, see Sharpness Ships, Coaster to Gloucester, Sand for RMC, Royal Navy, Kathleen & May, Lightship Sula

The tall ships of the Square Sail Shipyard Company occasionally visit the Gloucester & Sharpness Canal to appear in scenes for historical films and TV dramas. In 2005, they took part in shooting scenes for the feature film Amazing Grace. Based at Charlestown, Cornwall, the square riggers are also used for sailing courses, holidays afloat and corporate hospitality.
 

Kaskelot
     This flagship of the Square Sail Shipyard's fleet was built at Svendborg, Denmark, in 1948 for the Royal Greenland Trading Company. She was initially used for supplying the remote East Greenland coastal settlements and subsequently as a fisheries support vessel in The Faroes. She was purchased by Square Sail in 1981 and totally redesigned and re-rigged as a replica of a 19th century three-masted barque, one of the largest wooden ships still in commission.
 

Earl of Pembroke
     This second ship in the Square Sail Shipyard's fleet, originally named Orion, was built in Pukavik, Sweden, in 1948. She traded timber in the Baltic and British East Coast until being laid up in Denmark in 1974. Square Sail purchased her in 1979, and in 1994 she was commissioned as the three-masted 18th century wooden barque that she is today.
 

Phoenix
     This smallest ship in the Square Sail Shipyard's fleet was built by Hjorne & Jakobsen at Frederikshavn, Denmark, in 1929 as an evangelical mission schooner. After twenty years, she retired from missionary work and carried cargo until her engine room was damaged by fire. Square Sail purchased her in 1988, and she spent five years as a replica of the 15th century caravel Santa Maria before being given her present rig as a two-masted brig.

For further information on the Square Sail Shipyard Company, click here.