Crew diaries to be reunited with historic 1817 India-built HMS Trincomalee in UK
By ANIThursday, September 23, 2010
LONDON - Journals written by sailors on board HMS Trincomalee, Britain’s oldest surviving warship which was built in India in 1817, will be reunited with the ship at a special ceremony in Teesside, England.
The journals had been locked away in Royal Navy archives in Portsmouth for the past 150 years.
One journal dates back to 1852 and was kept by midshipman William Dawson. It contains a detailed log and tracking maps of the journeys that the warship took during that period.
HMS Trincomalee was brought to Hartlepool in 1987, where it took more than 10 years to restore. It is currently the main attraction at Hartlepool’s Maritime Experience and attracts 54,000 visitors a year.
The vessel is now being incorporated into the new National Museum of the Royal Navy (NMRN).
“The positive links with the NMRN in Portsmouth will heighten public awareness of HMS Trincomalee,” The BBC quoted Bryn Hughes, HMS Trincomalee Trust General Manager, as saying.
“It is a wonderful long-term scheme following hard on the profile of the recent Tall Ships Races so successfully staged in Hartlepool,” he added.
The rarely seen journals will eventually be included in the static Trincomalee exhibition in Hartlepool. (ANI)
