Lord Nelson, which is visiting Great Yarmouth, under sail

Visitors to the Great Yarmouth Maritime Festival are in for a treat in September when two tall ships sail into port for the 12th Maritime Festival on historic South Quay.

To send a link to this page to a friend, simply enter their email address below.

The message will include the name and email address you gave us when you signed up.

Email address

  Send link

To send a link to this page to a friend, you must be logged in.

The festival is on September 10-11 but the three-masted Dutch topsail schooner Oosterschelde is due into port two days earlier and will be offering passenger sailing trips to keen sailors throughout the festival.

Tickets are priced from £34 to £42, depending on the sail duration, and are available from Great Yarmouth Tourist Information Centre on 01493 332200.

The popular JST Lord Nelson, one of only two tall ships in the world especially designed for a crew with disabilities, makes a welcome return to the festival and will arrive into port on Friday, September 9, from Ipswich.

The motor torpedo boat MTB 102 which appeared in 1976 film The Eagle Has Landed, will also return to the festival this year.

The Oosterschelde was originally built in 1918 and painstakingly restored to her former glory in Rotterdam in the early 1990s. A large, elegant ship, the Oosterschelde has a beautiful wooden panelled lounge-bar area and can carry up to 120 passengers.

Named after the river Shelde, which runs from France to Holland through Belgium and splits into the eastern ‘ooster’ and western Schelde in the Netherlands before reaching the sea, the Oosterschelde has seen a long and varied career on the high seas, starting as a freighter carrying all sorts of cargo from clay, stone and wood, to herring, bran, potatoes, straw and bananas.

She subsequently joined a Danish fleet and was renamed the Fugeln, then was purchased by a Swede, renamed Sylvan and converted into a modern motorised coaster.

She returned to the Netherlands in 1988 where she was completely restored and refurbished with the help of her last Dutch captain, Jan Kramer, and three maritime museums to ensure an authentic rebuild.

Five passenger sailing trips will be available on this elegant tall ship from Thursday, September 8, until Saturday, September 10.

Sailing duration will be dependent on tide, but trips are scheduled to last from two to three or three to four hours.

Ken Sims, chairman of the Greater Yarmouth Tourist Authority said: “Sailings on the Artemis and Mercedes at previous maritime festivals proved very popular with visitors who were keen to experience life under sail out on the high seas.

“The Oosterschelde is possibly the most magnificent of all the tall ships who have visited so far, and is sure to be a great asset to this year’s annual maritime festival.”

Also visiting the port is the Jubilee Sailing Trust’s Lord Nelson, one of only two tall ships in the world that has been especially designed for a crew with disabilities.

The Great Yarmouth Maritime Festival will also feature music, street entertainment, arts, crafts, children’s activities and refreshments. More information about this year’s festival will be released as contracts are signed and acts booked, but to keep up with developments, more details can be found at www.maritime-festival.co.uk.