Maritime heritage in danger

Chloe Axford
Politics Show South West

The Kathleen and May - a sea-going craft of such beauty

The 100-year-old Kathleen and May is moored in Bideford but her owner says without government help, he may be forced to sell her.

The Kathleen and May is the last West Country Three Masted Topsail Schooner in the world.

But this unique working example of our maritime heritage may have to be sold abroad because her owner, Steve Clarke, is £2m in debt and can not get financial help to maintain her.

We hoped we were going to get the funding for her, but it was never meant to happen Steve Clark

"We hoped we were going to get the funding for her," says Steve, "but it was never meant to happen, I'm getting a bit older now, my health is really shot, I can't afford to keep her."

The lorry of her day

A hundred years ago, ships like the Kathleen and May would have been a common sight. She transported coal around the coast of Britain well into the 1950s.

Steve Clarke discovered her rotting away in Gloucester.

He fell in love with the idea of bringing her back to Bideford (where she was originally registered) and restoring her - work he paid for out of his own pocket.

This year Steve he was rewarded with an OBE for his services to maritime heritage.

The Core Collection

The Cutty Sark is of no more importance than the Kathleen and May Sian Williams

The vessel's significance is recognised by the fact she is one of only 60 ships in the core collection of the government endorsed UK National Register of Historic Vessels - alongside such nautical celebrities as the Cutty Sark and the Mary Rose.

They have both just received multi million pound heritage lottery grants - but applications on behalf of the Kathleen and May have yielded nothing - because she is not owned by a charitable trust.

Kathleen and May supporter, Sian Williams would like the government to help:

"The Cutty Sark is of no more importance than the Kathleen and May - they both have equal standing on the National Historic Ships Register. But the Cutty Sark gets millions and millions of pounds and it can't even sail."

The Department of Culture Media and Sport says it is not government policy to provide direct financial support for the preservation of historic ships, other than through the provision of grant-in-aid funding to sponsored museums, which hold vessels of historic significance in their collections.

If money were no object I'm sure most of our residents would love to keep the boat here John Van Der Laarschot

The local council can not help

The Chief Executive of Torridge District Council, John Van Der Laarschot, told the BBC Politics Show:

"I think if money were no object, I'm sure most of our residents would love to keep the boat here.

"The reality is though, in a forced choice, most of our customers would go for services above the boat, but we're hoping someone else will put the funding in to keep the boat here in Bideford."

Barry Hughes, from the North Devon Maritime Museum, is angry that more care is not being taken of our maritime heritage:

"It's very, very frustrating. You see vast amounts of money spent on historic paintings, on collections of pottery, churches and cathedrals and yet unique items of maritime history such as the Kathleen and May are just allowed to fall apart.

"We, as a maritime nation, should be ashamed of ourselves."

An uncertain future for the Kathleen and May

Petition

Now she faces being sold abroad, supporters of the Kathleen and May have put together an 8,000 name petition demanding government intervention.

It will be presented to the Culture Minister, Margaret Hodge, at the beginning of February 2008, by the local MP, Geoffrey Cox (Cons):

"I very much hope we can retain the ship for the port of Bideford," he says, "it's a wonderful tourist attraction and it could be a focal point of the regeneration of the port of Bideford.

"But we have to have government help, not just money, we also need the involvement of the government to devise a plan for keeping this ship in England and in it's home port."

The Kathleen and May has had a dramatic history, unlike other ships of her type she avoided being used as target practice during the first and second world war and was instead enlisted by the MOD to carry gunpowder.

Afterwards she was moved around the country and left to rot twice.

Despite all that, she somehow survived.

This may be one crisis that she will not be able to weather.

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