Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Restoration of Dundee’s historic North Carr Lightship takes ‘massive’ step forward

North Carr Lightship.

Efforts to preserve a historic lightship stationed at Dundee waterfront have taken a “massive” step forward.

The two lifeboats have been removed from the North Carr Lightship in preparation for a complete refurbishment.

The lifeboats were removed from the North Carr Lightship
One of the lifeboats.

It’s the first step in a major restoration project involving the last lightship to be based in Scotland.

And it has been hailed as a huge step for the charity which saved her from the scrapheap 11 years ago.

Taymara bought the North Carr for just £1 and has already spent £70,000 conserving her.

The ultimate aim is to get her into the Eastern Graving Dock with HMS Unicorn where they will form part of a double maritime attraction.

The North Carr Lightship is in a fragile state

The North Carr Lightship was stationed off Fife Ness and survived bombing during the Second World War.

She was also involved in one of Tayside’s most notorious sea tragedies, the 1959 Mona disaster.

This saw all eight of Broughty Ferry lifeboat’s crew members drown after launching to assist the North Carr which was adrift in St Andrews Bay.

She was used as a museum in Anstruther before Taymara bought her from a scapyard but she is in a fragile state.

Last year, she began taking in water and her condition was described as critical.

The lifeboats from the North Carr Lightship were transported to a secure unit.
The lifeboats were taken by lorry to a secure unit.

However, the removal of the lifeboats is the first step towards a change in fortune.

Taymara director Derek Taylor said: “It’s a massive step.

“We’re going to get Perth Men’s Shed to restore them in our secure unit as they’ve got shipwrights among their team.

“We’re really chuffed.”

‘We’ll do it bit by bit’

The lifeboats’ removal was a painstaking process, however.

“They are so fragile we were concerned they might collapse in on themselves,” Derek said.

“But we put a bit of wood inside the frames and there was no damage done. They held perfectly.

 

“We think the hulls are quite sound, It’s more about the sides and the top.

“They need to be inspected once they’ve dried out a bit.”

Taymara always said the lightship’s restoration would be a gradual process.

“I said I wanted to start with the lifeboats and we’re doing that,” he said,

“We’ll do it bit by bit and this is a big, big step.”

Meanwhile, the biggest challenge is keeping the integrity of the main boat intact until she can move to the dry dock.

“We’ve got pumps on board in case she springs a leak,” said Derek.

“We’ve done a fair bit of the refurbishment inside but in the Scottish climate she deteriorates quickly.

“It’s a bit like painting the Forth Bridge.”