Project Aims
The overall aim of the project is to restore Stalker back to ‘Full Operational Use’. This however is ‘not’ a new idea, and there are plenty of good examples around the world today. You only have to look at ‘Shieldhall’, ‘Kingswear Castle’ and the American Liberty Ship ‘Jeremiah O’Brien’ all are good examples of ‘working historic vessels’ and of what can be done, given the chance!

We at the Trust firmly believe that, given the chance, Stalker could also once again be able to do what she was designed to do, some sixty years ago! After all, Stalker herself is a ‘Historic Vessel’ and she is the sole surviving Steam Powered LST Mk3 left in the world today. She is without doubt a vessel of ‘Extraordinary Maritime Importance’, and therefore is, after all, the definitive Maritime Artifact. She has the ability to excite and dismay the imaginative visitor in equal measure and perhaps for some, even releasing feelings of adventuring into the unknown.

Therefore, we at the Trust believe that a different approach is needed, one ideally that will not damage the high levels of individual commitment and enthusiasm that exists within the ship preservation world.

After all, maritime history is mainly about boats and ships, along with the needs, aspirations and circumstances of their owners, masters and crews and all are realized through the vessels designers and their builders
It is therefore, we feel, necessary that we should seek to interpret Stalker through the skills and equipment employed in their construction and operation. We feel that the best media for this interpretation is Stalker herself! Once we achieve all this, then this will enable Stalker to reveal a broad maritime heritage with relevance much greater then the ship herself!!

Stalker is a large ship and she is of course a very impressive creation and she does lend herself to exhibition and just as she has the power to excite and stimulate, she also has the capacity to depress the visitor. It is, therefore, valid to consider what Stalker would have to offer if she were a static vessel in a dry dock?

We feel that large vessels that are no longer in use at sea, are to an extent, no longer ships and therefore the experience that they create can only be a distorted view of our maritime past. Yet we all too often try to pretend that, in our historic ships, that those who come on board can ‘visit the past’ and in so doing really feel that they have somehow ‘gone back in time’. As we all know of course we cannot go back in time, but all we can do is to try and imagine what life on these vessels was really like. We fully accept that the public demand for the ‘real thing’ is increasing and does seem likely to continue to do so. So what better way to satisfy the public demand for the ‘real thing’, than to return Stalker back to ‘Full Working Order’, where they can experience the feeling of being ‘in and on’ a moving ship at sea. Where people can come and learn first hand about living and working at sea in a vessel such as Stalker, to learn how to operate her machinery etc and at the same time travel the world to visit places that for some they would never ever visit in their lifetime. Where they can fulfill their feelings of adventure, this then is the goal that we at the Maritime Steam Restoration Trust want to achieve with Stalker, the ‘Ultimate Live Experience’.

But before all this can happen we have to acquire Stalker from Pounds Marine Shipping at a cost of £50,000. We can then move her to a safer berth where access will be much easier and the hard work of starting to restore her can begin.



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