Tall ships head for S.A.

Adelaide’s Inner Harbor will resemble the gloy days of saile as five tall ships tie up from from August 28 to September 1 in what will be the biggest gathering of traditional sailing ships seen in the Port since 1988.

Three Dutch tall ships are visiting en-route to an International Fleet Review in Sydney. They are the bark Europa, the schooner Oostershelde and the fishing lugger Tecla.

The Europa was built in 1911 and today travels the oceans of the world. Crewed by professionals and guests of all nationalities and ages, the 56-metre ship was built in Hamburg and rebuilt and refurbished in Amsterdam.

The three-masted topsail schooner Oosterschelde, built in 1917, is the largest restored Dutch sailing ship and is a testament to the supreme skills of the Dutch shipbuilders.

Tecla, built in1915 as a herring lugger, is a fast ship, rigged with two masts and carrying several suits of sails for heavy and light weather.

They will be joined by SA’s own Falie and One & All both of which will return to their berths on McLaren Wharf for the event. Failie was actually built in the Netherlands in 1919 as a Dutch lugger. It is the same class of vessel as the Tecla and was one of the last working ketches in SA.

The SA Maritime Museum is the host organiser for the tall ships’ visit and is proud to have brought this gathering of sail to South Australia. Museum’s Director, Kevin Jones said: "It will be thrilling to see a forest of masts return to the Inner Harbor, the traditional home of shipping in South Australia.

"I am proud of our part in bringing these majestic ships to Adelaide. Firstly, because this is such a great way to celebrate our maritime heritage. And secondly, because one of the original purposes for building SA’s Maritime Museum in Port Adelaide was that it would help to lead the Port as a visitor centre.

"Over the past 25years later our museum has welcomed over two million visitors and we continue to bring people to the heritage precinct," Mr Jones added.