History

Built in Plymouth, Devon, in 1904 by William Kelly, Bessie Ellen is one of the last surviving West Country trading ketches from a fleet that once stood at nearly 700. Bessie Ellen lived through an era when working sailing ships were an everyday sight in English ports and harbours.

In the summer of 1906 Bessie Ellen was seen by a North Devon home trade skipper, Captain John Chichester, who was looking to purchase his own ship. At 120ft long, and carrying up to 150 tons in her hold, she transported clay, peat, aggregates, salt and many other bulk cargos around the UK and Ireland

These sailing ships became the livelihood to many families of the small towns and villages inthe South West, such as Par and Fowey, in Cornwall, Appledore, Bideford and Braunton on the Estuaries of the Taw and Torridge in North Devon. Not only did these towns supply excellent seamen and captains, shipyards grew up to build and maintain the large fleet, sail makers and blacksmiths for repairs, chandlers, brokers and merchants gathered to supply the ships with cargoes. In fact a large percentage of the community was somehow involved with sailing ships and the sea.

During the first nine years, Bessie Ellen was under sail alone. Sail had its drawbacks and on a trip to Goodhorne with clay, Captain John had a rendezvous with a steamer, which visited the docks every three weeks, bad weather made the ship a day late for discharging and by the time they arrived in London Docks the steamer had sailed. John had to wait three weeks for the steamers return. This was very damaging to an owner\captain as all the crew wages and ships maintenance came out of the cargoes procured.

By the Second World War, trade was slowly becoming scarcer with power driven vessels taking over from the sailing ship. Around the coasts, ships were laid up to rot away, although some were kept for barrage balloon service, anchored off shore with little or no maintenance done to them, so by the end of the war they were irreparable. Luckily, with Mrs Chichester’s hard work and perseverance, Bessie Ellen found enough cargoes to keep her sailing right up until 1947 when she was purchased by Captain Møller from Frederiksvaerk in Denmark.

With small wooden ships still very much in demand in the sheltered waters of the Baltic, Bessie Ellen began the second chapter of her life under the new name of ‘Forsøget’ (The Attempt). Sadly, even in Denmark sail alone was not profitable enough to run a ship. Bessie Ellen went through a radical transformation, the rig greatly reduced and a large Hundested single cylinder engine installed. Deck beams were cut and a much larger steel hatch was made to give ease of handling the cargo by use of machinery for unloading. Captain Møller did very well with the ship, continuing to run scrap iron cargoes well into the 1970s, until finally the ship became too small a capacity to be profitable.

A Traditional Sailing Experience

Now back in Plymouth, nearly 100 years from the time she was built, Bessie Ellen has been restored to the graceful sailing ship she once was. With masts, rigging and below decks accommodation she can once again feel the wind in her sails.

View our schedule

We have an exciting schedule of voyages, including Cornwall and Scotland.