European Maritime Festival at Poole
23rd May 2017
During May 2017 Poole hosted the tenth European Maritime Day, the first time this event has been held in the UK. European Maritime Day is designed to bring together maritime professionals in order to share knowledge and forge business partnerships.
It also coincided with the Poole Harbour Boat Show and Maritime Festival which saw various visiting ships in port for the three day event.
Three sail training ships were moored alongside Town Quay: the former Arctic trawler Pelican of London (1948), the Sea Cadets flagship ts Royalist (2014) and the gaff ketch Queen Galadriel (1937).
Also in attendance was the Spanish NOA Victoria, a wooden replica of the first ship to circumnavigate the globe 1519-1522.
The Royal Navy was represented on Ballast Quay by the mine countermeasures vessel HMS Hurworth (M39) and Archer class patrol boat HMS Puncher (P291), both of which were open to the public with the local excursion ferry Purbeck Gem providing free transfers from Town Quay.
There were also RNLI, coastguard helicopter, tug and other water based displays.
Kevin Mitchell
