International Maritime Heritage Award

From time to time the Trust recognises nationally significant achievement in the cause of historic ship preservation with the award of its International Maritime Heritage medal. A more complete history of these famous vessels - and where they may be visited today - is found in the "International Register of Historic Ships", by Norman Brouwer, published by the Trust. The following list is a record of the presentations made to date:

Award No. 1 - on the occasion of its world premier for the film 'Ghosts of Cape Horn' presented in London, 19th November, 1980 by HRH Prince Philip to the producer, James R. Donaldson, and the director, Keith Chritchlow.

Award No. 2 - to Vasa, presented on 21st April 1982 by HM King Carl Gustav XVI of Sweden to Mr. Tore Tallroth, chairman of the Sea History Museums Council, in Stockholm. Built in 1627, the full-rigged warship Vasa capsized and foundered on her maiden voyage in 1628. She was discovered in 1959 resting on the bottom, upright, in a state of remarkable preservation due to the coldness and lower salt content of the water.

Vasa

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Award No. 3 - to Mary Rose, presented at Buckingham Palace on 28th October, 1982 by HM Queen Elizabeth II to HRH Prince Charles, President of the Mary Rose Trust. Built in 1510, Mary Rose served as Henry VIII's flagship. She foundered leaving harbor as the King watched.

Mary Rose

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Award No. 4 - to Jylland, presented on 3rd April 1985 by HM Queen Margarethe II to her consort HRH Prince Henrik, patron of the Den Selvejende Institution, Ebeltoft, Denmark. Built in 1860 for the Danish Navy, the wooden-hulled, steam propelled Jylland suffered considerable battle damage in an action against a combined Austrian and Prussian squadron in 1864. She is the last major warship surviving from that era.

Jylland

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Award No. 5 - to USS Constitution, presented on 17th December, 1987 by President Ronald Reagan in the Oval Office of the White House, in Washington, DC to the commanding officer, Commander David M. Cashman, USN. Built in 1797, “Old Ironsides' is a veteran of many campaigns including the War of 1812, and the world's oldest commissioned warship afloat.

USS Constitution

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Award No. 6 - to HMS Warrior, presented on 24th March 1988 to Sir John Smith, CBE for his unstinted contribution to her preservation. The 1860 steam frigate was built in response to France's La Gloire, the world's first armored warship.

HMS Warrior

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Award No. 7 - to Polly Woodside, presented on 17th October, 1988, by His Excellency the Governor of Victoria, Dr. Davis McCaughy, to Commander Michael Parker, CVO, chairman of Melbourne Maritime Museum, Australia, . The three-masted barque was built in 1885 for worldwide trading. She was also employed in the intercolonial trade between New Zealand and Australia.

Polly Woodside

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Award No. 8 - to Suphanna-Hong, Royal Barge of Thailand, presented on 4th June, 1992, by HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej (International Patron of the World Ship Trust) to the director of Thailand's National Fine Arts Department, at the palace in Bangkok.

Suphanna-Hong

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Award No. 9 - to Mikasa, presented on 8th June 1992, by the Minister of State for Defense, to Mr. Toru Hara, director of the Mikasa Preservation Society, in Tokyo. A pre-dreadnought battleship built in 1900, Mikasa was Admiral Togo's victorious flagship in the Battle of Tsushima Strait, 1905, during the Russo-Japanese War.

Mikasa

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Award No. 10 - to Buffel, presented on 8th September, 1995 by Vice Admiral J.A.L. Van Aalst, Inspector General of the Royal Netherlands Armed Forces, to Mr. Lex Kater, director of the Prins Hendrik Maritime Museum, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. The 1868 monitor is armed with a ram and single turret, for coastal defense.

Buffel

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Award No. 11 - to Huascar, presented on 15th November, 1995 by the Minister of State for Defense to Admiral Jorge Balaresque Walbaum, Commander-in-Chief Second Naval Zone, Chilean Navy, in Santiago de Chile. Built in 1865, the single-screw, steam, sea-going monitor was the most powerful ship in the Peruvian Navy at the start of the War of the Pacific. She sank the Chilean warship Esmeralda. In a later engagement, Chile captured Huascar which now serves as a museum.

Huascar

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Award No. 12 - to Great Britain, presented on 15th October, 1996 by HRH Prince Philip at Buckingham Palace to Sir Richard Gaskell, chairman of the SS Great Britain Project. Built in 1843, she was the first steam screw, iron-hulled commercial ship in the world. Abandoned in the Falkland Islands in 1886, she served as a storage hulk until 1970 when she was temporarily refloated, barged, and returned by Ulrich Harms salvage firm to the same stone drydock in which she had been built.

Great Britain

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Award No. 13 - to Bergantim Real presented on 20th November, 1997 by the President of Portugal, Jorge Sanpaio, to Admiral Nuño Gonçalo Vieira Matias, Chief of Staff, Portuguese Navy and head of the Museu de Marinha, in Lisbon. Built in 1778 as a royal barge for the Portuguese Royal Family, she is the largest of a collection of ornate royal barges on display in Lisbon.

Bergantim Real

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Award No. 14 - to Argonaute, presented on 16th December, 1999 by Mr. Christian Poncelet, President du Senat, to M. Jacques Chauveau, President to AMERAMI. French Arethuse class submarine of the 1950s, preserved on shore at La Villette on the outskirts of Paris, and open to the public.

Argonaute

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Award No. 15 - to Dom Fernando II e Gloria, presented on 11th March, 1999, by Senhor Jorge Sampaio, President of Portugal to Admira Nuño Gonçalo Vieira Matias, Chief o Naval Staff, Portuguese Navies, . This 1843 teak-hulled frigate, which was badly damaged by fire over 20 years ago is at anchor in the Tagos River in front of the Naval Academy. Her restoration is one of the most signal historic ship preservation achievements of our time.

Dom Fernando II e Gloria

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Award No.16 - to Star of India ex-Euterpe, presented by former President Gerald Ford to the Chairman of the San Diego Museum on 28th April, 1999. Built in 1863 at Ramsey, Isle of Man to carry passengers and cargo between Great Britain and New Zealand. Later sailed under the U.S. flag in support of the salmon cannery trade in Alaska. Preserved at San Diego, California by the Maritime Museum Association of San Diego.

Star of India

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Award No.17 - to Cutty Sark, presented on May 9th, 2000 by HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, at Buckingham Palace, to Admiral of the Fleet Sir Julian Oswald, GCB, Chairman of the Maritime Trust. Built in 1869 at Dumbarton, for the tea trade with China, she is the last of these famous clipper ships and the only one of any type surviving intact. For the purposes of her preservation, Frank Carr set up the Cutty Sark Preservation Society in 1952, and she is on permanent display at Greenwich, London.

Cutty Sark

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Award No.18 - to Charles W. Morgan, presented on September 23rd, 2000 by The Hon Senator Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, at Mystic Seaport, to Mr. Revell Carr, Director of the Mystic Seaport Museum. Built in 1841 at Fairhaven, Massachusetts, this whaling vessel enjoyed an active career spanning 80 years. Her last voyage in 1921 marked the end of the era of whaling in square-rigged sailing ships and occurred late enough to be recorded on film footage used in the silent motion picture Down to the Sea in Ships. Eventually acquired by the growing maritime museum complex at Mystic, Connecticut and arrived there under tow in November 1941. A thorough restoration commenced in the 1970s and, as no record remained of her original appearance in 1841 she was restored as she was in th 1870s, the period from which the earliest photographs survive.

Photo courtesy of Mystic Seaport

Charles W. Morgan

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Award No. 19- to HMS Trincomalee, presented on November 29th, 2001 by HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, at Buckingham Palace, to Colonel Michael Stewart, OBE, TD, DI, Chairman of the HMS Trincomalee Trust. Built for the Royal Navy at theWadias' Bombay shipyard in 1817, she is the oldest floating vessesl of all wood construction, with over sixty percent of original hull timbers intact. She is in every respect an international historic ship of the first order, and the sole surviving Royal Navy frigate of the 343 commissioned for service at sea in the 18th and 19th centuries.

In her life she served the Navy for 80 years, and, as the Fourdrayant, the education of young people in life on board in Nelson's day and in the rudiments of seamanship for 88 years. Now she is restored under her original name.

HMS Trincomalee

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Award No. 20- to the Hanse Cogge of 1380 , presented on 6th December, 2001, by Herr Johannes Rau, President of the Federal Republic of Germany to Professor Detlev Ellmers, Director of the Deutsches Schiffahrtmuseum. The Cogge is a typical example of 14th century sail trading vessel, and is the only one intact of this period, having been excavated fromt he mud of the River Weser in 1962. Re-assembled and treated for preservation, she is now on display at the Deutsches Schiffahrtmuseum in Bremerhaven. The recovery of this vessel, marked a major step forward in our understanding of this important type. The cog was flat-bottomed with high sides and distinctive stem and stern posts. The long keel would obviously give a good grip on the water and, combined with a square sail, provided the best answer for a deeply laden cargo ship in the rough waters of the North Sea and Baltic. The principal structural features of this type - weather deck, flat floors and through beams - all combined to greatly increase the carrying capacity of the cog, in comparison with its open boat type predecessors, and greatly contributed to the trading success of the Hanseatic League, of which Lübeck, Bremen and Hamburg were all prominent and important members.

The Hanse Cogge of 1380

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Award No. 21- to Cap San Diego, presented on 6th December 2001 by Herr Johannes Rau, President of the Federal Republic of Germany to Herr Peter Dietrich, Chairman of Management Stifung Hamburger Admiralitãt, Hamburg. This ship is a classic example of a modern German cargo ship of the era before widespread containerisation. Built in 1962, she was one of five sisters designed by the noted naval architect Casar Pinnau, and known as the White Swans of the South Atlantic. She was constructed at Deutsche Werft, Hamburg for the Hamburg-Südamerikanische Damptfschiffarts-Gesellschaft, Hamburg, the shipping interests of the R. A. Oetlker Group of Bielefeld. Permanently on display in Hamburg, she is the only example of a preserved break bulk cargo liner privately designed for private merchants before the shipping revolution of the 1960s completely changed the whole structure and technology of maritime commerce. She is maintained in full class by volunteers and makes occasional voyages on commemorative occasions.

Cap San Diego

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Award No. 22 - to May Queen, presented on 5th March, 2003, by the Governor of Tasmania, The Hon. Sir Guy Greeen, AC, KBE, CVO, to Mr. Graham Phillips, President of the May Queen Trust, in Hobart.  This wooden ship is Australia's oldest sailing trading vessel still afloat.  Built on the banks of the Huon River in southern Tasmania in 1867, she carried cargo for over 106 years and can now be visited in Hobart.

May Queen

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Award No. 23 - To James Craig, presented on 7th March, 2003, by the Governor General of Australia, His Excellency the Rev. Dr. Peter Hollingworth, AC, OBE, to Mr. Chris Stannard, President, Australian Heritage Fleet,in Sydney. Built in Sunderland, England, and launched in 1874, she was originally named Clan Macleod and had a working life of nearly 60 years. She first entered Australian waters in January 1877, and for 26 years she plied the trade routes of the world carrying general cargoes. In 1905 she was re-named James Craig after the son of her then owner, and six years later, in 1911, she was laid up because increasing competition from steam ships made sailing vessels uneconomical. For some years she was used as a copra hulk in New Guinea and after the first World War, when there was an acute shortage of cargo ships she was given a new lease of life when she was towed from New Guinea to Sydney for refitting. But her return to service was brief and in 1925 she was reduced to a coal hulk and moored in Tasmania. In 1930 she was beached and abandoned in Recherche Bay, where she remained until 1972 when volunteers from the Australian Heritage Fleet refloated her and bought her first to Hobart and then, in 1981 to Sydney where restoration work commenced. The James Craig's restored hull was relaunched in February 1997 and she is now rerigged and sailing regularly, taking members of the general public on trips on the open ocean.

James Craig

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Award No. 24 - to SS Jeremiah O'Brien, presented on 17th May, 2003, by Mr. Gunnar Lundeberg, President of the Sailors' Union of the Pacific to Rear Admiral T. J. Patterson, USMS, Chairman of the National Liberty Ship Memorial.

Built in 1943 in the space of 56 days in Portland, Maine, the Jeremiah O’Brien was one of the 2,710 vessels which comprised the Liberty Fleet inaugurated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the dark days of 1941. These ships formed the largest element of the President’s "Atlantic Bridge" and it was he who dubbed these economy-built vessels "ugly ducklings". A pre-containerisation "break built" cargo vessel, she served in both the Atlantic and Pacific and was part of the D-Day armada, carrying troops, explosives and tanks to Omaha and Utah Beaches Before serving in the Pacific theatre she made a total of eleven transatlantic trips without casualty. Thanks to the efforts of Rear Admiral Thomas Patterson and his team she was declared a National Monument in 1978, and formally inaugurated in 1980, and makes several cruises each year under volunteer crews, most notably celebrating Memorial Day in May. Fare-paying passengers on these occasions help to pay for her upkeep. She is berthed at the Fort Mason Centre, San Francisco.

In 1994, to mark the 50^th anniversary of the D-Day landings; she voyaged through the Panama Canal and crossed the Atlantic to England, where after arrival in Portsmouth she visited several other British ports, including London where she was berthed next to HMS Belfast on the River Thames. She then proceeded to Normandy, just as she had done half a century earlier. It was reported that this old lady, one of a host of ships of many flags taking part in the event, stole the show. President Roosevelt’s ugly duckling had turned into a swan.

SS Jeremiah O'Brien

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Award No. 25 - to  SS John W. Brown, presented on 17th May, 2003 by the Head of the U.S. Maritime Administration, Mr. William G. Schubert, to Mr. Michael J. Schneider, Chairman, Project Liberty Ship.   Launched in Baltimore on 7th September, 1942.  Her maiden voyage took her via the Cape of  Good Hope to the Persian Gulf with a Lend-Lease cargo for Russia.  (This was the so-called 'backdoor route' via the Gulf ports from whence cargoes were railed to Russia, a much safer voyage than that to North Russia but also a much longer one.)  After returning to the States her forward tween-decks were converted to carry troops and prisoners of war.  For most of the rest of WWII she conveyed Allied troops around the Mediterranean and towards the end, and for some months afterwards, she made several Atlantic trips loaded with cargo on the eastern crossings and with American ex-prisoners of war on the opposite ones.

Returning home from the final voyage in November 1946, she was acquired as a floating annex by the nautical education side of the Metropolitan Vocational High School in New York.  From then until 1982 she was used to train up to 450 students a year.  As some of the students were receiving marine engineering training, the ship's engines got to be regularly services and 'turned over'.  Towards the end of her school ship days, Project Liberty Ship was formed with the aid of the National Historical Maritime Society of America led by Peter Stanford, with the aim of preserving the ship.  In 1983, Congress passed a Bill transferring ownership to the Project and at the same time she was listed in the National Register of Historic Places, so gaining some extra privileges.  In 1988 she was towed to Baltimore, where, in the place of her birth, she was greeted with honour and enthusiasm.

The Brown, like the O'Brien over on the West Coast, is a floating museum and open to the paying public.  She is being preserved and operated as a living memorial and museum ship which conducts Living History Cruises and makes occasional voyages showing the flat in other ports.

SS John W. Brown

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Award No. 26 - to Aurora, presented on 27th June, 2003, by Alexander Beglov, Governor of St. Petersburg, to Rear Admiral Lev Tchernavin, Director of the Aurora Museum in St. Petersburg, in the presence of Admiral Viktor Kravchenko, Chief of Naval Staff of the Russian Federation, Mikhail Motzak, First Deputy to the Authorized Representative of President Putin in the North-western Region of the Russian Federation, Rear Admiral Vladimir Kudryavtsev, Commander of  the Leningrad Naval Base, Admir Vladimir Grishanov, Deputy Chairman of the Marine Council of St. Petersburg, Andrey Berezkin, member of the Marine Council of St. Petersburg and Andrey Andriyainen, Executive Secretary of the Marine Council of St. Petersburg, along with the Chairman of the WST, Monsieur Jacques Chauveau.  

Built in 1900 by Galernie Island Shipyard, St. Petersburg, she ws originally owned by the Imperial Russian Navy and took part in the important Battle of Tsusima in 1905, later playing a central role in the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917.  She served as an anti-aricraft battery during the siege of Leningrad during the Second World War.  She is now preserved in immaculate condition as a naval museum and memorial.

Aurora

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Award No. 27 - to Pommern, presented on 1st November, 2004, by the President of Finland, Mme. Tarja Halonen to Mme. Ritva Sarin Grufberg, Mayor of Mariehamn, Cland Islands.  Built in 1903 by J. Reid & Co., Greenock, Scotland for the German firm of  B. Wencke Sohne, Hamburg for worldwide cargo use, she has a steel hull and steel and wood decks and masts.  She was acquired by acquired by the Finnish Gustav Erikson in the 1920s, to join his 'Flying P-Line fleet  carrying, in the latter years, grain from Australia, and she took place in many of the 'Great Grain Races' of the 20s and 30s.  In 1952 she was one of the few survivors of her type and was offered by the Erikson family to the town of Mariehamn as a museum-ship.  This offer was accepted the following year and since then she has been on exhibit, one of the glories of the Cland Islands.

Pommern

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Award No. 28 to HMS Victory presented on 11th March, 2005 at Portsmouth by HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh to Vice-Admiral Sir James Burnell-Nugent, Second Sea Lord and Commander-n-Chief Naval Home Command.

HMS Victory is the flagship of the Royal Navy’s Second Sea Lord and is most famous for being a First Rate Ship – in the front line of the fighting – at the Battle of Trafalgar and is the oldest commissioned warship in the world and today is in a dry dock in HM Naval Base, Portsmouth.  She is the fifth ship to bear the name Victory and was laid down in 1759 at Chatham dockyard and built at a cost of £63,000, in the region of £50million at today’s value. She displaced 3500 tons and is 226 feet in length with a breadth of 52feet and draught of 19.67 feet

Victory was launched in 1765 and it was said that her construction used 6000 trees, mainly oak. When in commission she had a crew of 250 men and her active service began in 1778 when she sailed as flagship of the Channel Fleet and Admiral Keppel and Admiral Lord Howe flew their flags in her.  In 1793, after declaration of war by France, Victory was transferred to the Mediterranean flying the flag of Admiral Sir Hyde Parker and took part in the Battle of St Vincent.

After return to Portsmouth and time spent as a hospital ship Victory, flying Nelson’s flag sailed to engage the French. In the battle of Trafalgar she was badly damaged and after temporary repairs in Gibraltar the ship set sail to England carrying the Admiral’s body. She was paid off and after a number of minor commissions was taken out of active service.

By 1857 Victory was serving as a tender to the flagship of the Commander-in-Chief, the Duke of Wellington. By 1922 and with the ship declining, efforts were made to preserve her and she was placed in dry dock and a six year preservation programme was embarked upon. The public was admitted in 1928 and successive restorations have taken place returning her to her Trafalgar design and condition as seen today.

HMS Victory

Award No. 29 to ORP Błyskawica presented on 25th November 2008 at Gdynia by Commander in Chief, Admiral of the Fleet Roman Krzyzelewski, to Commander Zdzislaw Kryger, Acting as Captain of the Blyskawica for the injured Commodore Jerzy Lubkowski.

ORP Błyskawica (Lightning) is the oldest ship in the Polish Navy.  Laid down in 1935 by the Samuel White shipyard in Cowes, Isle of Wight, she was launched in 1936.  The commencement of World War II saw her attached to the Royal Navy, where along with her sister ship Grom (which was sunk during the operation) she covered the evacuation from Narvik, and then operated in the Western Approaches.  May 1942 saw her back in Cowes for a refit and it was then that the Germans dropped 200 bombs on the town and the  Błyskawica was responsible for driving off the bombers in a heroic defence.  Further work in the Mediterranean, escorting convoys to Iceland, and in the Bay of Biscay.  In 1947 she returned to Poland.  She was withdrawn from the line in 1969 and in 1975 was converted into a floating museum.  Since 1976 she has been moored at Gdynia as part of the Polish Navy Museum, where she can be visited.

In 1987 she was honoured by the highest Polish military decoration, the Gold Cross of the Virtui Militari Order.

ORP Błyskawica

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THE SPECIAL AWARD

Special Award No. 1

To the Balclutha, presented on 6th October, 2000, by Mr. Ed Zelinsky, Trustee of the World Ship Trust, to Mr. George C. Fleharty, President of the San Francisco National Maritime Park Association on the occasion of the institution's 50th Anniversary, at the San Francisco Maritime Museum. The Balclutha was built in 1886 in Glasgow and was formerly known also as the Pacific Queen and the Star of Alaska. She was designed to carry cargo worldwide under the British flag, and later sailed under the American flag serving salmon canneries in Alaska. Converted to a waterfront attraction in the 1930s, she was restored to serve as a floating museum at San Francisco in the 1960s. She is on permanent display there under the ownership of the San Francisco Mairtime National Historic Park.

Balclutha

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Special Award No. 2

To the Pilot Vessel Edmund Gardner presented on 10th April, 2002, by M. Jacques Chauveau, President of the World Ship Trust, to Mr. M.ichael Stammers, Keeper of the Merseyside Maritime Museum, on board the vessel at Liverpool, England. The Edmund Gardner was built in 1953 by Philip & Son in Dartmouth, England for the Merseyside Docks & Harbour Board and served as a pilot vessel for the Port of Liverpool. Splendidly preserved in the condition in which she left service in 1981.  She is on display at the Albert Dock in Liverpool adjacent to the Merseyside Maritime Museum.

Edmund Gardner

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Special Award No. 3

To the structure Bombay Castle,  presented in Bombay to Admiral Mahvendra Singh, Chief of Naval Staff, under whose inspiring leadership as the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Naval Command major restoration and conservation work was done on the building's historic Bambay Castle Wall, by Captain Christopher Chamberlen of the World Ship Trust on 4^th November, 2004.  The Castle can trace its origin to the Quinta, or Manor House, built by the Portuguese Gracia da Orta in 1554 and has since grown into what is now INS Angre, the Naval Barracks, the Naval Dockyard, and the Headquarters of the Western Naval Command.  It is very closely related to the growth of Mumbai and has played a significant role in the maritime history of India.  Its restoration of the Wall is the first meaningful and notable step which has been taken to focus attention upon the importance of preserving maritime heritage in India.

The Bombay Castle

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Special Award No. 4

To HQS Wellington, presented by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh to Captain Simon Culshaw, Master of the Honourable Company of Master Mariners, on board the vessel on 10th March, 2004.  The ship was built in 1934 by Devonport Dockyard, Plymouth, England, for the Royal Navy, for use as an Escort Sloop.  Originally seeing service on the New Zealand and China stations, she is also a veteran of service in World War II, when she served primarily in the North Atlantic escorting convoys.  When made available by the Admiralty she was acquired by the Honourable Company of Master Mariners to serve as their Livery Hall, reaching her mooring at the Embankment in London in 1948.  After removal of her engines and reorganisation of her interior she is now a splendid sight on the River Thames and presents a most attractive interior where a notable collection of ship models are displayed.

HQS Wellington

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Special Award No. 5

To SS Lane Victory, presented by  State Senator Martin Garrick to Captain Joe Itson, on board the vessel in San Diego, California, on 9th October, 2007.  One of the 'Victory' class of cargo vessels (successors of the 'Liberty' ships), she was built in Los Angeles and delivered to the War Shipping Administration in June 1945, She went on to serve the Merchant Marine in three wars, with great distinction, hauling munitions and supplies to the troops.  

She boasts two on-board museums containing artefacts relating to the history of the Merchant Marine.  Designated a National Historic Landmark in 1994, she is berthed in San Pedro, from whence she makes regular sea-going trips.  She is operated by the United States Merchant Marine Veterans of World War II.

SS Lane Victory

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