So many of our supporters have been asking us about the plans we have for Lord Nelson, both in the short and long term, following her decommissioning ceremony.

Have a read of our blog below from Andy Spark, who is leading on Nellie’s new chapter.

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Since her decommissioning ceremony in Southampton, Lord Nelson has made her way to Bristol where she will be moored for the new few months. It marks the start of a busy period where Nellie will be decommissioned in a way that keeps her open to as many options as possible regarding her future use.

What does this mean in practice? What ever happens next for Nellie there’s lots of work on board. ‘Decommissioning’ means sails are sent down, dried and stowed, stores are gradually transferred to Tenacious or our office, and engineering systems are shut down, cleaned, drained and generally winterised, in order to preserve the ship as best we can. 

As Captain Chris says: “Thank you to everyone for your support over the past few weeks and months, as we come to the end of a chapter for Nellie. As you can imagine, during decommissioning the ship will not be a safe environment for visitors to come on board. We have a small amount of volunteers and the professional crew working hard on this, and there is a huge task ahead. We’re going to be busy!”

So what’s next for Nellie?

At the moment, we’re looking at a number of options. These include being used as a possible educational centre and working with local community organisations. What ever happens, what’s of paramount importance to us is that she can continue delivering our mission – albeit on shore. Our work has always been about changing perceptions of someone’s own ability and those around them, and there’s a huge opportunity to keep doing this. 

We have already been approached by ports from across the UK and further afield, as well as a number of prospective partners and organisations, keen to be part of these future plans. We anticipate making this decision in around six months, and will keep all our supporters updated with our news on this.

And don’t forget our voyages continue. Tenacious will soon be setting off on her winter programme, where our work bringing crews of mixed ability together continues. We’re more determined than we’ve ever been to bring people on board who will benefit from our incredible experiences. Witnessing disabled people do things they didn’t think possible and seeing the change in mindset and understanding of non-disabled voyage crew members – that’s what continues to drive everyone at the JST.  

We hope you continue to be part of that.

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If you would like to help maintain Lord Nelson or have any ideas for her future use, please email andy@jst.org.uk

Our winter voyage programme is available here – we hope to see you on board soon.

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