Save our Ship - SS Shieldhall

Photo Credit: Dave Souza at Wikipedia

Southampton's historic coastal steamer, SS Shieldhall, has sent out an emergency SOS message.

SS Shieldhall, a regular feature on the Solent and waters around Southampton, has launched an urgent appeal to raise £80,000 for essential maintenance works to keep the historic ship afloat.

SS Shieldhall was built 56 years ago and is listed on the National Historic Fleet alongside historic ships such as HMS Victory, SS Robin, Cutty Sark and SS Great Britain.

Last year SS Shieldhall was awarded 2009 Flagship of National Historic Ships.

Graham Mackenzie of the Solent Packet Society, which owns SS Shieldhall, said "Next year Shieldhall will undergo a mandatory dry-docking. Over the last few years our financial reserve had been hit by the huge rise in fuel costs as well as a loss of income caused by pressure on traditional sources such as the Heritage Lottery fund. The combined effect leaves us short of money for this dry-dock. "

If the money is not raised SS Shieldhall will be unable to secure the passenger licence required to take passengers to sea. If SS Shieldhall suffers the loss of this main income stream it could be result in a one-way ticket to the scrapyard.

SS Shieldhall is a 1,972 ton steamship launched in 1955 and built by Lobnitz & Co in Renfrew, Scotland.

Source [National Historic Ships & Daily Echo]