Renewal Britannia – tourist attraction forced to close for £100,000 makeover

THE Royal Yacht Britannia is to be closed to the public for at least a month for a complete overhaul, on the orders of the historic vessel’s insurers.

It will move from its permanent home in Leith to a nearby dry dock for a full-scale make-over – the first since it arrived in the port in 1998.

The yacht, which attracts some 300,000 visitors a year, will be out of commission for the whole of next January to allow its vast hull to be fully inspected, treated and repainted.

Marine inspectors will oversee the revamp of the area below the waterline, which is around five metres high, after the yacht’s insurance company insisted it needed a “clean bill of health” after nearly 13 years in Leith.

This is despite officials responsible for its upkeep insisting it was still in good condition, as it had sat in a fresh-water port since Leith won the right to host Britannia, beating off rival bids from Manchester and Glasgow.

Managers of the vessel, which is owned and maintained as a visitor attraction by a registered charity, have also ordered a full programme of repairs and restoration for the vessel’s three masts, its funnel and parts of the yacht that are on the route taken by ticket holders.

The repairs are expected to cost up to £100,000.

Britannia was built by John Brown’s shipyard in Clydebank and launched by the Queen in 1953. Over 44 years, the vessel transported members of the Royal Family on 968 official voyages, travelling through the remotest regions of the South Seas to the icy seas of Antarctica.

Britannia was decommissioned in December 1997 and arrived in Leith the next spring to undergo restoration work after then defence secretary George Robertson confirmed a deal to sell the vessel to dock operator Forth Ports for just £250,000.

It opened as a five-star visitor attraction and corporate hospitality venue in October 1998.

The temporary closure of Britannia will be a blow for the attraction, which normally draws at least 7,000 visitors every January. However, that month has been chosen as it is the quietest of the year.

A spokeswoman for the Royal Yacht Britannia Trust said: “Due to the quality of the work previously carried out, the annual underwater surveys have found that it was not necessary for the paintwork below the hull to be redone in 2008, as was originally expected.

“However, despite there being no evidence to indicate that this work is now required, our insurance company wants their marine surveyors to inspect the hull in order that they can give us a clean bill of health, hopefully, for at least the next 20 to 25 years.

“The slow speed of deterioration in the paint surface that is designed to protect the steel hull from corroding may also be due to the fact that Britannia sits in a predominantly fresh-water port. Sitting in salt water would have broken down the paint surface and rusted the hull quicker.

“The entire cost of this essential work is being entirely self-funded by the trust with revenue raised through admissions, events and our own gift shop.”

Britannia was used for four royal honeymoons: Princess Margaret and Antony Armstrong-Jones went to the Caribbean in 1961, as did Princess Anne and Mark Phillips in 1973. In 1981, the Prince and Princess of Wales cruised the Mediterranean, and the Duke and Duchess of York sailed around the Azores in 1986.