Maintaining Britannia
Our dedicated maintenance team work 7 days a week, 363 days a year to look after and preserve Britannia in keeping with her former role. This is a considerable challenge and something that we take very seriously. It is also very rewarding to have the results of our hard work on display to visitors.
Nearly all of the fifteen staff in the maintenance team has a Royal Navy or shipyard background. They are led by a naval architect/shipwright with over 20 years' experience of ship maintenance gained with the Royal Navy. Within the team we have a wide range of professional skills including: a bosun, deck-hands, shipwrights, mechanical and electrical engineers, painters and a plumber. As you would expect there are no demarcation lines in such a small team and they all spend a lot of their time painting and varnishing. In addition we have three full-time and three part-time cleaners who ensure everything is spick-and-span.
There is no end to the preservation of Britannia and there will always be more to do over the course of time. When visiting Britannia you will see areas that have been fully restored to their original glory, areas under restoration in various colours of preventative treatments and undercoats, and also areas awaiting restoration.
In order to ensure that the on-going maintenance of Britannia is of a sufficiently high standard, these works, above and below all decks (including an underwater survey), are subject to an annual independent survey by a firm of suitably qualified Naval Architects. These reports then inform the maintenance programme for the coming year.
We are a member of the Green Tourism Business scheme. Please visit their website for more information www.green-business.co.uk/scotland.asp.