THE Headley Trust has donated £100,000 towards the restoration of HMS Unicorn, Scotland’s oldest ship.
The donor – which is one of the “Sainsbury Family of Charitable Trusts” – has covered 10% of the £1 million cost of restoring the boat, which was launched in 1824.
HMS Unicorn is the third oldest ship in the world and has been under the care of the Unicorn Preservation Society since 1968.
The society said the £100,000 will “go specifically towards the replacement of missing or rotten timbers and engineering works to strengthen the ship’s weakest points”
It follows a donation of £20,000 by American entrepreneur and self-made billionaire John Paul DeJoria for the same purpose.
The work will be completed in advance of the ship being moved to dry dock for major conservation works, the society added.
Matthew Bellhouse Moran, director of the museum based on the ship, said: “This very generous £100,000 donation by The Headley Trust is an incredible boost to our fundraising efforts to raise the £1m we need to make the ship structurally safe, replacing rotten and missing timber from the hull of the ship, which will ensure a safe move to dry dock to continue with the much needed conservation efforts.”
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