Zebu (ship)

Zebu

Zebu at the Albert Dock
History
UK
Name:	Zebu(formerly Ziba)
Owner:	Tall Ship Zebu Ltd (Community Interest Company)
Builder:	AB Holm Sweden
Laid down:	1938
Launched:	1938
Acquired:	2017
Honours and awards:	Circumnavigation Operation Raleigh in 1980's
General characteristics
Tonnage:	98
Length:	31 metres (101 ft)
Beam:	6.89 metres (22 ft)
Propulsion:	Sail and motor
Sail plan:	Brigantine

Zebu is a historic tall ship based in Liverpool.

History

Zebu(originally named Ziba) was built at the AB Holm's Yard in Raa, Sweden in 1938. She was originally built as a Galleass , a form of Baltic Trading Vessel. These ships carried a wide range of cargoes, including wood, iron ore, and paper. During WWII there is some suggestion she was used for smuggling arms and refugees from Poland and Denmark. As a trading vessel she was in service until late in the 1960's, although at some time her rigging was removed and she became motorized. In the 1970's she was converted back to a sailing ship for recreational use and eventually found her way to the UK. She came under the ownership of Mr Nick Broughton who chartered her to Operation Raleigh.^[1] She was extensively refitted for this role and between 1984 and 1988 circumnavigated the Globe. During this time she carried nearly 500 young people on her adventures as part of Operation Raleigh Activities. Similar activities still continue as Raleigh International

Following her circumnavigation she found a new home with the Mersey Heritage Trust based in Liverpool

Her decline began when in August 2013 the ship listed to port, with no-one aboard, and was subsequently stabilised.^[2] The Zebu then sank at her moorings^[3] near to the Pumphouse Pub on 4 September 2015.^[2] Work to raise her started on Friday 25 September 2015, and finished on Tuesday 29 September 2015, by salvage teams from Hughes Sub-Surface Engineering, Waterwitch Engineering and Carmet Tug Company.^[3] Three days after Zebu was refloated, she was towed from outside of Tate Liverpool to Canning Dock, near to the Merseyside Maritime Museum. As of 16 October, the cause of her sinking was unknown. The ship will be repaired.^[3]

The Zebu changed ownership in January 2017. A number of Tall Ship sailing enthusiasts and experts came together who are dedicated to the restoration of Zebu. A new Community Interest Company, "Tall Ship Zebu CIC" has been registered.

The repairs and restoration is being planned to start in 2017 and will include a thorough overhaul of her hull, plans to fit a new engine and generator and restoration of her rigging. Her navigation and safety equipment will be replaced so that she meets all requirements for her role as an ocean going sail training ship. Much relies on raising funding for this.

The primary objective and the philosophy of the new management team is that there is a need to take her back to sea, where she belongs, to provide sail training. If she is active at sea it is a necessity for the restoration works, to be carried out to a high standard. She will be healthier at sea, much more than being a static museum ship. She will, however, have a role as a moving, floating museum and class room about the UK's maritime heritage. Her size and draft means that she can access many of the smaller ports around the country and in Ireland where the larger sailing vessels cannot access. She will take the maritime experience to these places in cooperation with local events and in cooperation with local schools and museums. A new network of support groups is being developed nationwide to support young people to sail on this historic vessel and to provide support around the country when the ship comes to visit. Many of the volunteers, expressing interest in becoming members of support groups, come from the thousands who sailed on the former Sail Training Schooners- Sir Winston Churchill and Malcolm Miller. These enthusiasts are often affectionately known as "Schooner Fanatics" and are dedicated to reviving an older style of more challenging Sail Training. More come from a background of Jubilee Sailing Trust crewing, TS Pelican and other famous UK Sail Training Vessels. Much of the organisation and management to support Zebu after her restoration will use the well established models of operation of the former STA that functioned successfully for many years.

This is a new enterprise and a new frontier to be faced by this historic ship. New management, a new support organisation and extensive repairs to the ship are required before she boldly sets forth on new adventures of discovery and exploration, to new ports and new destinations........

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Zebu (ship, 1938).