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Gipsy Moth IV
Sir Francis Chichester's single-handed circumnavigation of the globe
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NB Gypsy Moth IV is no longer in Greenwich but sailed around the globe again after a refit. Details here: www.gipsymoth.org After her global voyage, Gipsy Moth IV went to her new home in Cowes, Isle of Wight. The vessel will be a floating exhibit at a new Maritime Heritage Centre to be based in the town, she will continue to take young people afloat in the Solent and beyond. |
This small sailing ketch in which Sir Francis Chichester made the World's first single-handed circumnavigation of the globe (1966-7).
Sir Francis Chichester was knighted close to this spot by Queen Elizabeth II using the same sword that Queen Elizabeth I used to knight Sir Francis Drake.
See the small vessel that Chichester said on his return:
"Now that I have finished, I don't know what will become
of Gipsy Moth IV. I only own the stern while my cousin owns two thirds. My part,
I would sell any day. It would be better if about a third were sawn off. The
boat was too big for me. Gipsy Moth IV has no sentimental value for me at all.
She is cantankerous and difficult and needs a crew of three - a man to navigate,
an elephant to move the tiller and a 3'6" (1.1m) chimpanzee with arms 8'
(2.4m) long to get about below and work some of the gear".
Gipsy Moth IV stood close to Cutty Sark in Greenwich, one of the clipper ships that Sir Francis Chichester was emulating. In order to show the magnitude of the size difference please refer to the chart below.
| Gipsy Moth IV was designed by John Illingworth and built by Camper and Nicholsons, was never sailed again after Chichester's return. Instead, she became a national monument set in concrete next to the great clipper ship Cutty Sark at Greenwich where she has just been returned after a complete overhaul and rebuild - rotted by rain water and worn out by the millions of visiting boots that have strided her decks in the almost three decades that have passed since Chichester's success. A cut-away of Sir Francis Chichester's ketch is shown here: |  |
Other special features about Gipsy Moth IV and Sir Francis Chichester:
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Gipsy Moth IV achievements
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30th Anniversary of the record-breaking round-the-world voyage
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Sir Francis Chichester pen-picture
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Sir Francis Chichester achievements
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Cutty Sark - Tea Clipper in dry-dock at Greenwich
