''Royal Clipper'' is a steel- hulled five- masted fully rigged

tall ship A tall ship is a large, traditionally-rigging, rigged sailing vessel. Popular modern tall ship rigs include topsail schooners, brigantines, brigs and barques. "Tall ship" can also be defined more specifically by an organization, such as for a r ...

used as a

cruise ship Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports of call, where passengers may go on Tourism, tours k ...

. She was redesigned by Robert McFarlane of McFarlane ShipDesign, for Star Clippers Ltd. of

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, the same designer behind the cruise company's first two vessels ''Star Clipper'' and ''Star Flyer''. This third one was built using an existing steel hull designed by

Zygmunt Choreń Zygmunt Choreń (born 1941) is a Polish naval architect and the proprietor of the naval architectural firm Choreń Design and Consulting. He is a graduate of the Gdańsk University of Technology and the Leningrad Ship-Building Institute. He w ...

that was modified by the Gdańsk Shipyard, where was added to its length. Originally built by Polish communist authorities as "Gwarek" she was intended as a floating vacation home for miners . This hull was sold because of financial problems. The Merwede shipyard completed the ship's interior in July 2000, whilst visiting the Pool of London, for its pre-launch to the travel industry. The renovations included

frescography Frescography (from Latin ''fresco'' – ''painting onto "fresh" plaster'' + Greek ''graphein'' – to write) is a method for producing murals digitally on paper, canvas, glass or tiles, invented in 1998 by German muralist Rainer Maria Latzke. Fr ...

murals by Rainer Maria Latzke completing the ship's Mediterranean interior.Sheila Gibson Stoodley
"21 Ultimate Gifts: A Tall Order"
, ''

Robb Report The ''Robb Report'' is an American, English-language, luxury- lifestyle magazine featuring products, including automobiles, aviation, boating, real estate and watches. Founded in 1976, it is currently owned by Penske Media Corporation. It also ...

'', 1 December 2005 Her design was based on '' Preussen'', a famous German five-mast Flying P-Liner windjammer built in 1902. Star Clippers claims that she is the largest "true sailing ship" built since ''Preussen''. She is listed in ''

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, list ...

'' as the largest square-rigged ship in service, with of sail. Her sails can be handled with a crew as small as twenty using powered controls.Wallace Immen
"Cruising on the winds of change"
''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

'', 23 June 2007 ''Royal Clipper'' cruises the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

during the summer. During the winter she offers

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

trips through the southern parts of the

Lesser Antilles The Lesser Antilles is a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea, forming part of the West Indies in Caribbean, Caribbean region of the Americas. They are distinguished from the larger islands of the Greater Antilles to the west. They form an arc w ...

area. Because of her size, she can visit smaller ports that larger ( motor) cruise ships can't reach. Transatlantic crossings are available between seasons.Julie Watson
"Smooth Sailing"
''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

'', January 2005

Gallery

File:Fünfmastvollschiff.JPG, ''Royal Clipper'' silhouetted against the sunset File:Royal Clipper Lobby.jpg, Lobby of ''Royal Clipper'' with murals from Rainer Maria Latzke File:RC Painting.jpg, ''Royal Clipper'' (painting by Rainer Maria Latzke) File:Royal Clipper IV.jpg, ''Royal Clipper'' File:Royal Clipper II.jpg, Bow of ''Royal Clipper'' File:Royal Clipper III.jpg, Bell of ''Royal Clipper'' File:Royal Clipper V.jpg, Sails of ''Royal Clipper'' File:Royalclipper039.jpg, Helm of ''Royal Clipper'' File:Royal Clipper anchored near Split, Croatia.JPG, ''Royal Clipper'' anchored near the port of

Split, Croatia Split (, ), historically known as Spalato (; ; see #Name, other names), is the List of cities and towns in Croatia, second-largest city of Croatia after the capital Zagreb, the largest city in Dalmatia and the largest city on the Croatian coast ...

, on 3 July 2011. File:Royal clipper2.jpg, ''Royal Clipper'' anchored in

Martinique Martinique ( ; or ; Kalinago language, Kalinago: or ) is an island in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the eastern Caribbean Sea. It was previously known as Iguanacaera which translates to iguana island in Carib language, Kariʼn ...

(

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere, located south of the Gulf of Mexico and southwest of the Sargasso Sea. It is bounded by the Greater Antilles to the north from Cuba ...

side) in March 2018.

References

External links

Star Clippers website
about ''Royal Clipper''
"Royal Clipper: melding the thrills of sailing with the comforts of cruising aboard Star Clippers' mega-yacht"
by Charles Doherty, ''Cruise Travel'' (magazine/journal), September 2005, as found online at LookSmart Find Articles

– review by Douglas Ward in ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'', London
"ROYAL CLIPPER To The Grenadines, Part One"

"Part Two"
an
"Part Three"
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160227210346/http://maritimematters.com/2016/01/royal-clipper-to-the-grenadines-part-three/ , date=27 February 2016 – review by Peter Knego in ''Maritime Matters''
"Setting Sail"
– review of ''Royal Clipper'' i
''Cruise Passenger''
Cruise ships Five-masted ships Windjammers Ships built in Poland Tall ships Tall ships of Luxembourg Tall ships of Poland Full-rigged ships 2000 ships

Gallery

See also

References

External links