The proposed V&A museum may not be the only major visitor attraction to grace Dundee’s central waterfront as efforts are under way to move the Unicorn to the prestigious site to celebrate the city’s world-beating maritime heritage.
The Unicorn, berthed in Victoria Dock, is one of the six oldest ships in the world and work will soon take place to weatherproof the vessel, while the long-term plan to relocate it next to the Discovery hangs in the balance.
The location of the ship has long been a talking point and the possibility of moving it relies on funding and plans for a waterfront marina on the site of the Olympia Centre next to Discovery Point.
Operations director at the Unicorn Lt Cdr Roderick Stewart said, “The best option for Dundee is to have the Discovery and Unicorn side-by-side. Everyone coming through the door at the Unicorn has been to Discovery and vice versa.”
Lt Cdr Stewart explained, “The ship is a Dundee ship. She belongs to Dundee. She was in Dundee 50 years before the Caird Hall opened and pre-dates most of the city centre.”
Launched in 1824, she spent her early years in reserve in the south of England until she was brought to Dundee in 1873 to serve as the reserve training ship for the Tay. She carried out this function for nearly a century, also acting as headquarters for the senior naval officer in Dundee during both world wars.
“The two ships belong together as a matter of strategy,” Lt Cdr Stewart said. “The Unicorn does belong in Dundee in a fundamental way. A ship usually travels about but she did not and has bedded into the fabric of Dundee society.”
An application for a Heritage Lottery Fund grant to help with the relocation costs was turned down last year and now the Unicorn Preservation Society is preparing a new bid.
“It’s unlikely we are going to be in a position to go back to the Heritage Lottery Fund for a number of years for that funding,” Lt Cdr Stewart said. “When they turned us down last year it was with the clear understanding they were waiting for a new plan to move the ship to the waterfront.
“We are buying ourselves time in a very uncertain financial situation.”
In the meantime, the weather is taking its toll on the frigate. With preservation now the priority, in the next few weeks work will begin to extend the ship’s roof making it wind and watertight.
Lt Cdr Stewart said, “Preserving things is absolutely essential at this time. We are extending the roof and doing essential remedial works to buy us a couple of years until launching a big appeal.”
The Unicorn Preservation Society carries out constant fund-raising and is supported by a number of local trusts and groups who have helped raise money for the extension.
This is not the first time berthing the Unicorn and Discovery next to each other has been considered. More than 25 years ago it was a topic of controversy in the debate to create Discovery Point as a permanent home for Captain Robert Falcon Scott’s famous Antarctic explorer.
There were many calls for the Discovery to be sited next to the Unicorn in Victoria Dock and for a Discovery Point-type centre to be there in what was a more historically appropriate setting for the ships.
That argument was rejected for reasons that the Unicorn told a different story from the Discovery. Discovery Point was then built at Craig Harbour west of the Olympia.
Photo courtesy of Stewart Lloyd-Jones.