Hermitage welcomes the historic vessel Havengore for the September open days weekend, in the year of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
It will be open to visitors during the normal open day hours of 11am to 4pm.
Havengore was specially commissioned by the Port of London Authority in 1954 to act both as its flagship and principal hydrographic survey vessel and launched two years later in 1956, having been built in Teddington by Tough Brothers.
The proudest moment came in 1965 for Winston Churchill’s State Funeral with his final journey by water along the Thames from Tower Pier to Festival Pier. “And so Havengore sails into history – not even the Golden Hind has borne so great a man”. Richard Dimbleby, BBC Lead Commentator, 30th January 1965.
A more recent ceremonial role has been in 2012 when Havengore had been selected to carry members of the royal family as part of Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations in a flotilla of over a thousand vessels during the River Thames pageant. It also participated in the Silver Jubilee in 1977 and the 2015 marking of Queen Elizabeth as the longest reigning British monarch (surpassing Queen Victoria).
Constructed originally to the highest standards of British craftsmanship using English oak and teak with copper nails, she was completely restored between 1997 and 2008.
Almost 26m length, 5m beam and 2m draft, and 89 tons gross, with twin Gardiner diesel engines delivering 300hp via twin counter rotating propellers for a 12kts speed.
