The big ships sail

There were a few interesting boats sailing on the Moray Firth this morning. The first one I saw was the  'Bloodhound' a Classic 1930's yacht , launched in 1936 and owned by the Queen and Prince Philip from 1963 to 1969. She's a 63ft racing yacht now owned by The Royal Yacht Britannia trust. She is usually moored next to the Britannia in Leith but from July 20th to August 14th you are able have a private day sailing on her on the West Coast of Scotland. The Bloodhound used to travel with the Royal yacht Britannia on the families holidays to the Western Isles. The young royals learnt t sail on her and one of the permanent crew members was a descendent of Sir Francis Drake.
The second boat was the one seen above. The  sloop Anna of Sand, one of Europes oldest ships and very typical of the vessels that would have been seen on the Norwegian coast in the 18th and into the 20th Century.
She was launched in 1884. She would have been used to carry gods up and down the fjords and around the coast. She would also have been used for accommodation and transport during the herring trade and would have carried salted herring on the Baltic sea.
Al the hard work took it's toll and in 1896 after 50 years of service she needed to be repaired.  The owner renamed her Anna after his wife. At the turn of the century she was sold to Sand and thereafter called ' Anna af Sand.
She was sold to two Englishmen in 1968 who wanted to sail her across the North sea. Unfortunately they were not very experienced and crashed her and after she was towed to Stavenger the new owners deserted her. Luckily she was found and restored and gave her to the Stavenger Maritime Museum. She has had some exciting adventures recreating old sailing routes. She sailed to with a cargo of herring to Poland , the Baltic States and St. Petersburgh following the route that ships had sailed 150 years before. Another sailing took her Northern Spain carrying Clipfish to commemorate the old trade contacts. At San Sebastian she was loaded with salt and wine for her return journey.
Today she is carrying on her journey after sailing round the top of Scotland stopping at Stornoway, Mull and Inverness and eventualy returning to Stavanger. I waited for her to sail past the Point and was lucky to get a shot with one of the dolphins bow riding. I had to zoom in a long way so not the clearest of shots  but so good to see :)