SHIP THAT NEVER SAILED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18272, 13 December 1922, Page 9

SHIP THAT NEVER SAILED.

H.M.S. FAME " PAST WORK."

Greenwich has fears of losing its picturesque land ship, H.M.S. Fame, which for 40 years has been " moored " in the grounds of the Hospital Naval School, helping in the training of young sailors, says a London paper. It is marked down as past work, but nothing has been actually decided on regarding its fate. Though fully rigged and equipped, it never sailed the seas —not being built that -way—but there is a strong sentimental regard for the old craft. It is the fourth of a scries of the name, whose line reaches back a couple of centuries; and historic timbers— ; sorae from ships that served at Trafalgar—have been used in the construction of the series. It, is long since boys of the school have made the ship their training or sleeping quarters, as did their predecessors, so that it is now just a survival that has outlived its usefulness. It has bad its adventures. "It has been on fire," said a local sailor, recalling outstanding incidents; " has been struck by lightning, and run dovn by a motor-lorry in a thick fog—not to mention other near squeaks. The old Fame still weathers the storm, though rotten inside and out, and even now does not look so dusty, with its last coat of paint dating from the summer." American visitors have always been keenly interested in this ship aground. " How was she got out of the water to her high and dry pitch?" some have asked; and others have been curious to learn "Was it Nelson's snip?" It is reported that a move is being made to save the ship as an historic memorial, and representations are to be made to the Admiralty with this object.