100-year-old Dutch ship visits

A sure sign of summer being on the way, the first sail training ship of the year has arrived in Orkney.

In blue skies and bright sunshine, the 100-year-old, 38-metre-long Dutch tall ship Tecla arrived alongside Kirkwall Pier on Friday afternoon.

According to her skipper, Gijs Sluik, the ship arrived from Amsterdam and is due to stay in Orkney for a few days, while poor weather passes, before going on to the west coast of Scotland, stopping off in Ullapool and on to Oban. Trips to St Kilda with the vessel are also planned later in the year.

The ship has an interesting history, being built in Vlaardingen, Holland, in 1915, as a herring drifter. She was later sold and used as a cargo ship.

In 1985, she was brought back to the Netherlands and reconstruction work was started to get her ready for a life as charter vessel.

The ship has sailed around the world in 2012, 2013, and 2014, and last visited Orkney back in 2011 during the Tall Ships Race cruise in company leg between Orkney and Shetland.