|
Technical
data
|
Length: 114
feet (ca. 34.75 m)
|
| Beam:
26 feet (ca. 7.92 m) |
| Draught:
12 feet (ca. 3.65 m) |
| Displacement:
342 tons |
| Authority:
Humber Conservancy Board |
|
Year of construction:
1959
|
|
Shipyard:
Cook, Welton and Gemmell, Beverley, Yorkshire, England
|
|
Yard-No.:
937
|
| Contract
price: 98.843 £ |
| |
| Material:
steel |
|
| Populsion:
4 Gardener 2 LW Diesels |
|
| Anchor:
Mushroom anchor |
|
| Crew:
7 men changing every two weeks |
|
History
| June
2nd, 1959 |
blest by priest
and launched
|
|
June 28th,
1959
|
commissioned
SPURN station
|
| May
29th, 1961 |
collision with the Hull trawler Loch Seaforth
|
| July
5th, 1961 |
collision
with the Ostend trawler Sea Lady
|
| October
17th, 1966 |
collision
with the Hull trawler Steed Fame
|
| December
24th, 1982 |
no light on
the lightship for 5 hours because of a mistake of the crew
|
| December
19th, 1984 |
visit by
the Archbishop of York
|
| December
11th, 1985 |
decommissioned
SPURN station
|
| 1987 |
sold to Mr.
Roger Smith and restoration for 1.500.000 GBP
|
|
May 1988
|
the ship
became the club home of the Beaucette Yacht Club in Guernsey,
Canal Islands and tourist attraction, renamed to "Beaucette Lightship"
|
| September
12th, 1988 |
tourist attraction in Conwy, North Wales
|
| October
12th, 1990 |
purchased for the Milford Haven Port Authority |
| October
20th, 1990 |
 
tourist attraction in Milford Haven Marina |
| March
14th, 1991 |
 
renamed to "Haven lightship" |
| July
1997 |
sold to Irish tourism investors |
| December
2001 |
laid up in Bear Iceland, Bantry Bay, of Co. Cork in Ireland and
later in Waterford and offered for sale |
|
June 1st,
2007
|
 
Good news - from today the lightship has new owners, who are planning
to live on it and to start an alternative healing center on it
(such as Reiki, Crystal Healing, Sound Healing, Aromatherapy,
etc.). For more details please see: http://www.lightshiptherapies.net
|
| August
2007 |
The Sharpness
Shipyard & Docks was selected to do the work on the lightship.
But first the lightship has to be towed from Ireland to the UK
and this means - paperwork! The problem with lightships is, that
they are not a ship as such and so they are not registered and
classified - but they need to to be towed. Stressful times!
|
| November
14th-16th, 2007 |
 
The lightship
was picked-up by the tug Sea Trojan in Waterford (Ireland) and
towed to the Sharpness Shipyard in Gloucester (UK).
|
| January
6th, 2008 |
 
Here in Sharpness
the lightship will stay for the next 5-6 month for restoration
and conservation work. Any volunteers? :-)
|
| October
2nd, 2010 |
After 3 years
of restoration and fitting out at Sharpness the lightship (now
called Sula) was towed up the 16 miles from Sharpness to its new
home in Gloucester today. With the help of a pair of tug boats
the journey on the relatively narrow canal took 10 hours!
|
| December
2nd, 2010 |
Grand Opening
event. The shipyard has done a superb job turning the ship into
a modern therapy centre whilst retaining the character of the
era the lightship was build.
|
| Today |
Today the lightship is proudly owned by Jan and Agnes van der
Elsen, a couple originally from Eindhoven in Holland. They have
renamed the lightship Sula, meaning peace, and they offer high
quality complementary health care and training, trading under
the name Lightship Therapies. Both are qualified practitioners
who can help you find the best treatment to achieve a balanced
life. A long-list of healing treatments and complementary therapies
are available including Reiki, Aromatherapy, Reflexology, Life-coaching,
Sound Therapy and Yoga. The ship is open to the public.
Visitor address:
SULA Lightship
Llanthony Wharf
Llanthony Road
Hempsted, Gloucester GL2 5HH
Web: http://www.lightshiptherapies.net
If someone
has news, I would be grateful for an e-mail.
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