Lady Nelson

The original Lady Nelson tall ship sailed into the Derwent estuary in 1803. In 1804 it sailed up the Tamar River to where Launceston is now, and was one of the ships that established Lieutenant-Governor Paterson's settlement at Port Dalrymple, at the entrance to the Tamar estuary

The original Lady Nelson is no more, but Robert Sexton, an Adelaide-based international authority on historic marine architecture, researched the original plans. Ray Kemp, a traditional shipwright in Woodbridge, just south of Hobart, then built a replica square-rigger, with financial and practical help from clubs, schools, private enterprise, banks, yacht clubs, newspapers and the state government

Since its launch in 1987, the Lady Nelson has become a Tasmanian icon - a slice of history, heritage, traditional boat-building methods and tall-ship sailing. The Lady Nelson offers trips on the Derwent run by the Tasmanian Sail Training Association. You can see it moored at Elizabeth Street Pier, Hobart.