One of the largest and most visually arresting tall ship training vessels on the high seas is docking in Dublin this weekend and will lower its gangplanks for locals to board until Monday.
The BAP Unión is the jewel in the crown of the Peruvian navy and is touring Europe with a view to building closer bonds across trade, tourism, investment and cultural links.
While the vessel looks like it is from another time, when wind power was dominant, the steel-hulled, four-masted barque only took to the water a decade ago, having been built over three years for Peru’s navy.
She is the largest sail training vessel in South America and one of the largest in the world, at 115m long and 53.5m tall at her highest mast, with a beam of 13.5m.
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As a sail training vessel, she carries a crew of about 250 – 71 of whom are cadets, led by Peruvian naval officers.
Alongside her role as a training ship, she also travels the world building stronger diplomatic relations between Peru and host nations as a floating embassy.
The brilliant white tall ship will be berthed alongside Berth 47 in Dublin Port due to her deep draft. It will be open for the public to view on-board exhibitions for three hours from 2pm on Saturday and from 10am to 5pm on Sunday, with a two-hour window from 10am on Monday.
On Sunday, a free shuttle bus service will be available to the public from the bus stop at Sean Moore Road to the ship’s docking location every 20 minutes.
The ship has already visited Britain, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands. After departing Dublin, it will head to Vigo in Spain and then return to Peru.
