Stavros S Niarchos
The Stavros S Niarchos is a British brig-rigged tall ship owned and operated by the Tall Ships Youth Trust. She is primarily designed to provide young people with the opportunity to undertake voyages as character-building exercises, rather than pure sail-training. She is also used for adult voyages and holidays, which help subsidise the operation of the ship.
Construction
In the late 1990s the two schooners (Malcolm Miller and Sir Winston Churchill) then owned by the Tall Ships Youth Trust (then called the Sail Training Association) were showing their age and becoming increasingly expensive to maintain. The hulls for the two new brigs (the Stavros and her sister ship, the Prince William) were obtained half-completed from another project in Germany. These were transported to Appledore Ship Yards in Devon, where they were modified to the TSYT's requirements, and fitted out. She was completed in January 2000. The rig was designed by Michael Willoughby, who wrote a few comments on the overall design of the brigs.
Maiden voyage
Following completion of sea trials she was handed over to the STA at Avonmouth Docks. She sailed for her maiden voyage, a training voyage for permanent and volunteer crew, on 13 February 2000. She arrived in Weymouth, UK three days later.
During that trip she encountered a south westerly gale as she came round Land's End. She achieved an indicated speed through the water of 14 knots under lower tops'ls and fore topmast stays'l alone.
Rig
The Stavros is a brig, that is a two masted vessel with square sails on both masts. She carries five yards on each mast (moving up: Course, Lower Topsail, Upper Topsail, Topgallant and Royal), and a total of 18 sails. In good conditions she has managed speeds of just over 13 knots (24 km/h).
Crew
The Stavros (and her sister ship, the Prince William) normally sail with a crew of up to 67 people. The crew consists of 6 permanent salaried crew, 11 to 13 volunteer crew and up to 48 voyage crew. The voyage crewmembers, those paying to sail on the ship, are divided into three watches (Red, White and Blue) of 16. Each of these watches has a Watch Leader from the volunteer crew. The remaining crew are assigned as follows:
Permanent crew:
- Captain (Master)
- Commanding Officer (Chief Officer)
- Second Officer
- Chief Engineer
- Boatswain (Bosun)
- Cook
Volunteer crew:
- Third Officer
- First Aid Purser
- 2nd Cook
- Assistant Cook
- Assistant Engineer
- 3 x Watch Leaders
- 2 x Deckhands (3 on adult voyages)
- 2 x Youth Mentors (youth voyages only)
- 2 x Supernumeraries (optional, adult voyages only)
On youth voyages the two Youth Mentors (YMs) are responsible for the various entertainment activities and competitions as well helping with any problems young people aboard may have. They are usually professionally qualified teachers or youth workers.
The 2 or 3 deckhands act as assistants to the Bosun and as such are mostly concerned with the cleaning and maintenance of the ship.
