Recently in West India Dock it has seemed to be a case of one tall ship departing and another arriving. That pattern has continued today, when we welcome the arrival of the regular visitor, STS Tenacious. The Tenacious is a wooden sail training ship which was specially designed to be able to accommodate disabled sailors. Launched in Southampton in the year 2000, it is one of the largest wooden tall ships in the world. It is 65 metres long with a beam of 10.6 metres at its widest point.
The Tenacious and her sister ship the Lord Nelson who visited the West India Dock a couple of weeks ago are owned by the UK-based charity the Jubilee Sailing Trust who have for many years have pioneered sailing for the disabled. The Jubilee Sailing Trust became a registered charity in 1978 and was the brainchild of Christopher Rudd, a school teacher and sailor who wanted to give the disabled children he taught the same experiences his able-bodied students had.
Since its launch Tenacious has taken nearly 12,000 people sailing of these 3,000 were physically disabled and 1,000 were wheelchair users.
The Tenacious is due to depart tomorrow and often sails around the British Isles and Europe, however she has sailed all around the world and often takes part in Tall Ship races.
It promises to be a busy weekend on the river with the Great River Race and the Classic Boats at St Katherine’s Dock.
Isle of Dogs Life 
I was there when Tenacious arrived. I noticed that the Scout headquarters ship ‘Lord Amory’ had it’s proper name on the bow.
When the Esmeralda was there a week or so before it was mysteriously named ‘Baffin Straight’
Does anyone know why that was?
Hi Norman,
Funny you should mention that ! I noticed the same thing and came back to see if the Lord Amory had changed its name. I did not find any explanations, so bit of a mystery.