News from Great Britain. Inspired by the Barbary pirates from the 17th century, a retired Royal Navy commander has spend 12 years converting an Arctic trawler into a £6 million replica pirate ship, which is now set for its maiden voyage.

In 1995, Graham Neilson bought a 60-year-old fishing vessel with the dreams of owning his own pirate ship. Neilson and a team of 15 enthusiasts have worked tirelessly for the last twelve years to make that dream a reality.

Using 400-year-old designs discovered in museums and libraries in France and Spain, Graham built the 150ft long craft called Pelican.

The ship, which is moored in Weymouth, Dorset, has undergone successful sea trials this summer and is due to make its maiden voyage to the Caribbean later this month.
Mr. Neilson, 72, said "She is a beautiful specimen and it is difficult to express how happy we were when she was finally at sea and proven. I think she has fulfilled all our hopes, both with her performance and in terms of the spectacle she provides. I believe she is possibly the most interesting sailing vessel of the last decade. It has been very tiring but there is a wonderful sense of achievement. We can't wait to take her out. She looks very grand at sea."

Neilson bought the Norwegian fishing vessel for £65,000 and put an estimated total of 52,000 hours into its conversion. Once the vessel was in England, Neilson and his team gutted her and found the hull to be in excellent condition. From there they have meticulously reconstructed her from keel to masthead.
The sails were recreated based on contemporary accounts of the Arab raiders, whose stronghold was along the stretch of North Africa known then as the Barbary coast.
Experiments enabled Mr. Neilson and his designer, Philip Goode, to work out how the pirates were able to sail into the wind after robbing European cargo vessels.
"The Barbary corsairs were renowned for their speed. They were swift, exciting and revolutionary but also very dangerous."
As well as preying on shipping, the pirates also raided coastal towns around the Mediterranean, and even as far as the British Isles and Iceland. Some historians believe that as many as 1.25 million Europeans were captured and sold as slaves between the 16th and 17th century.
Mr. Neilson plans to use the vessel for adventure holidays for families. The 11-week maiden voyage, which is available to people of all ages, will include visits to several countries and four weeks in the Caribbean. The cost is between £2,000 and £3,000.