Ambitious plans and some progress
One major ambition for many of the supporters of SS Freshspring is to see her at sea again under her own power, and of course, if at all possible to be able to take a trip on her. One step which will help us understand if this is a possibility is to undertake a study of Freshspring’s structure and systems and look into various modes of operation and see how these systems might need to be updated to meet the requirements of the Maritime Coastal Agency. This is the essence of our Feasibility study and we are really pleased to report that 1) we were granted the funding to pay for the study by a combination of the National Lottery Heritage Fund and The Pilgrim Trust and 2) we were able to engage the renowned company BMT to undertake this work for us. So huge thanks to our funders and to the BMT team of naval architects who have been hard at work this summer.
Catherine Ingram, Principal Naval Architect at BMT said “The team and I are delighted to have a part to play in the project and are excited to see what the future holds for Freshspring. We very much value the partnership we have with the Trust.”
Once we have the copy of this study in our hands we’ll known what alterations we’ll need to make to the ship’s structure so we can accommodate passengers, we’ll know what systems we’ll need to update to modern standards of safety and how we might also be powered by a more environmentally friendly source of energy in the future.
It’s an exciting time so watch out for more news when the study is ready!
Both the Pilgrim Trust and National Lottery Heritage Fund have been part of our journey for some time and we are very grateful for their financial support, advice and guidance.