Another interesting visitor for West India Dock is the ARA Libertad tall ship which is a training ship for the Argentine Navy. Ara Libertad is one of the largest and fastest tall ships in the world and holds a series of speed records.
The tall ship was designed and built in the 1950s by the Río Santiago Shipyard in Argentina and made her maiden voyage in 1961. Since then she has been a training ship and a travelling goodwill ambassador for Argentina. The ship is estimated to have covered more than 800,000 nautical miles (1,500,000 km), visited about 500 ports in more than 60 countries and trained over 11,000 navy personel.
The ship has a total length (including bowsprit) of 103.75 m (340.4 ft); a beam of 14.31 m (46.9 ft) and is world’s sixth longest tall ship and the third heaviest. The crew usually numbers around 350, including 24 officers, 187 crewmen and 150 naval cadets. Unusually the ship has four fully functional cannons which are used for salutes.
It is the first time that the Libertad has visited London for 17 years and marks the half-way point on the 48th midshipman training voyage.
The Frigate departed from Buenos Aires on 17th of August and will navigate over 23 thousand miles in 2019, visiting 15 ports in 10 countries, including: Salvador de Bahía (Brazil); Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Cadiz (Spain); Lisbon (Portugal); Brest (France); Antwerp (Belgium); London (United Kingdom); Dublin (Ireland); Boston and Miami (U.S.A); Bridgetown (Barbados); Recife and Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and Montevideo (Uruguay).
The ship is due to be open for visitors for free tours on Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th of October before the ship departs on the 29th October.
Isle of Dogs Life 