Celebrating 30 years of sailing aboard Morning Star of Revelation 1981 - 2011

The vision that became a reality:

Morning Star of Revelation was built by Tim Millward, the founder of the Morning Star Trust. Formerly a Maths and Physics Teacher at Dulwich College, Tim had a passion for sailing and the personal development of young people. It was this passion that led him to embark on a project to build a sail training vessel in his spare time that was to take him 9 years to complete.

Work began in the winter of 1972 involving "lofting the lines," a process of drawing out and making full size plywood templates from which the hull's steel frames could be shaped.

As the hull skin was to be made of ferro-cement a complex frame of tubing, reinforced steel and wire mesh had to be constructed before the cement could be applied. This work was undertaken in an old warehouse by Beckton gasworks on the Thames in London and took 3 years to complete. Plastering of the hull finally started on 4th October 1975 and involved 80 volunteers as well as 12 professional plasterers and two mixer drivers.

A further 3 years passed when the bulkheads, deck, cockpit and engine were installed before the hull was finally moved from the warehouse and launched in September 1978. Morning Star's wooden masts were fashioned on the Isle of Wight, resulting in the hull having to be motored around to Cowes where the masts and rigging were finally fitted.

The present day

Today, Morning Star of Revelation sails almost constantly from mid March until November each year stopping only for maintenance work and the occasional lull between groups. Her leadership teams are drawn from a pool of volunteer Trust members who give of their spare time to make up the sailing leadership teams - a necessary combination of suitably qualified skippers, 1st and 2nd mates.

Annually she carries approximately 420 people safely to sea under sail and travels an average distance of 5000 miles. She is a strong and well proven vessel and is a credit to her owner and builder Tim Millward.