Sir Winston Churchill was a sail training ship which was built in Hessle

Hessle

Hessle is a town and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, situated west of Kingston upon Hull city centre. Geographically it is part of a larger urban area which consists of the city of Kingston upon Hull, the town of Hessle and a number of other villages but is not part of the...

, Yorkshire

Yorkshire

Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...

 by Richard Dunston Ltd. She was sold out of service in 2000 and currently serves as a private yacht.

History

Sir Winston Churchill was designed by Camper & Nicholson and built in 1966 to compete in the Tall Ships Race. The patron

Patrón

Patrón is a luxury brand of tequila produced in Mexico and sold in hand-blown, individually numbered bottles.Made entirely from Blue Agave "piñas" , Patrón comes in five varieties: Silver, Añejo, Reposado, Gran Patrón Platinum and Gran Patrón Burdeos. Patrón also sells a tequila-coffee blend known...

 of the project was Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh is the husband of Elizabeth II. He is the United Kingdom's longest-serving consort and the oldest serving spouse of a reigning British monarch....

. Public donations partly funded construction of the ship, and the Sail Training Association raised about half the needed money. The vessel was named for Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...

, wartime leader and twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...

; Churchill had died the year before his namesake's construction. Her rig was deliberately designed to incorporate all the main types of sail. In November 1965, Sir Winston Churchill toppled over onto her starboard side whilst she was being fitted out. All three masts were broken. The accident happened a week before she was due to be launched by HRH Princess Alexandra

Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy

Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy is the youngest granddaughter of King George V of the United Kingdom and Mary of Teck. She is the widow of Sir Angus Ogilvy...

.

In January 1967, she sank at Southampton

Southampton

Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...

, Hampshire

Hampshire

Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...

. On 26 July 1967, she ran aground at Holyhead Harbour

Holyhead

Holyhead is the largest town in the county of Anglesey in the North Wales. It is also a major port adjacent to the Irish Sea serving Ireland....

, Anglesey

Anglesey

Anglesey , also known by its Welsh name Ynys Môn , is an island and, as Isle of Anglesey, a county off the north west coast of Wales...

 but was refloated after four hours. In 1968 a sister ship, Malcolm Miller

Malcolm Miller

Malcolm Miller was a sail training ship which was built in Aberdeen, Scotland by John Lewis & Sons, shipbuilders. She was sold out of service in 2001 and renamed Helena C and currently serves as a private yacht.-History:...

was launched. Sir Winston Churchill differed from Malcolm Miller in having round topped cabin doors as opposed to square topped doors. Sir Winston Churchill entered the 1972 Tall Ships Race with an all-female crew. In 1976, the vessel took part in a transatlantic race to celebrate the Bicentenary

United States Bicentennial

The United States Bicentennial was a series of celebrations and observances during the mid-1970s that paid tribute to the historical events leading up to the creation of the United States as an independent republic...

 of the United States Declaration of Independence

United States Declaration of Independence

The Declaration of Independence was a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies then at war with Great Britain regarded themselves as independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. John Adams put forth a...

. On 27 July 1981, she ran aground 4 nautical miles (7.4 km) off Great Yarmouth

Great Yarmouth

Great Yarmouth, often known to locals as Yarmouth, is a coastal town in Norfolk, England. It is at the mouth of the River Yare, east of Norwich.It has been a seaside resort since 1760, and is the gateway from the Norfolk Broads to the sea...

, Norfolk

Norfolk

Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...

 with 60 female trainees on board. In 2000, Sir Winston Churchill was replaced in service by Prince William and sold by her owners, the Tall Ships Youth Trust

Tall Ships Youth Trust

Tall Ships Youth Trust is a sail training organisation in the United Kingdom that currently owns and operates a two mast brig, the Stavros S Niarchos, and four 22m/72 ft Challenger class racing yachts....

. Her last voyage for the Tall Ships Youth Trust ended on 2 December 2000 at Portsmouth

Portsmouth

Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...

.

Sir Winston Churchill was sold to a company based in the Isle of Man

Isle of Man

The Isle of Man , otherwise known simply as Mann , is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is...

. Initially she was used as a sail training ship, with a reduced capacity of 20 trainees instead of the 38 that the Tall Ships Youth Trust carried. She was totally refitted and re-engined in 2002 with twin Iveco

Iveco

Iveco, an acronym for Industrial Vehicle Corporation, originally an alliance of European commercial vehicle manufacturers such as Fiat , Unic and Magirus. Iveco is now an Italian truck, bus, and diesel engine manufacturer, based in Turin...

 diesel engines replacing her 270 hp Ford Mermaid engines.