Replica of the first ship to sail the world docks in Medway's Maritime Marina

KentOnline / KMTV

The original made the voyage in 1519 from Seville, taking 4 ships with it and more than 200 crew members under the command of explorer Ferdinand Magellan.  Finn Macdiarmid reports

Transcript

00:00Yachts, cabin cruisers, barges and now the Chatham Maritime Marina's waters host a piece

00:05of history.

00:06Over 500 years ago, Spanish explorer Ferdinand Magellan set off from Seville to the Moluccas,

00:12a group of islands now known as Indonesia's Moluku Islands.

00:15The now Victoria became the first ship to circumnavigate the world, and its closest

00:20ever replica is now docked right here in Chatham.

00:24Well the ship under my feet might just be a replica, but it also has the distinction

00:27of having circumnavigated the entire world.

00:30The replica started its own journey around the world in 2004 and finished by 2006, sailing

00:36nearly 27,000 nautical miles and visiting 17 different countries.

00:41It's manned by Spanish naval students earning credits for their courses and volunteers.

00:46This ship is now 33 years old, right?

00:48So it was first built for a museum and then three businessmen said, like, let's do the

00:54trip again.

00:55Because it was back then also an international crew, European.

00:58And then they made the trip in 2004 around the world.

01:03And now we stay a bit more closer to, in Europe, a bit closer to dry docks.

01:09So we go a bit between Scandinavia and Morocco.

01:12The boat is specifically a Carrack, a three to four masted ocean sailing ship.

01:17It's reportedly difficult to control, despite it having an engine unlike the original from

01:22the 16th century.

01:23It would be, in today's sort of parlance, I think a bit of a cow to handle.

01:28It rolls, I know it rolls an awful lot when there's a two metre wave.

01:33The first mate over there was telling me the top of that mast moves 30 feet.

01:39And people have to go up there and hang on, which is quite an event.

01:42But yeah, it would be an interesting trip.

01:46Nowadays the ship serves as a floating museum, travelling from country to country to tell

01:51people of its exploits.

01:53Yeah, I think it's exciting.

01:54I think it's really cool that it's come all the way to Chatham and that it's come here,

01:58in our, sort of in our home, and this is the place in England that it's come to.

02:03Yeah, it's impressive when you think something this size and made, you know, out of wood

02:09would sail all the way around the world.

02:12It's a very nice ship and I'm very interested in the history of it.

02:16After the public walked the plank to board the ship, they could listen to an audio tour

02:20and read plaques, making the vessel almost a floating museum.

02:24The ship will remain moored until the 4th of August, when it will set sail to its next dock.

02:29Finn McDermid for KMTV.

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