David Meiklejohn

Explorer Tom Glenlee has sailed around the world and ended up back on the Clyde, which is a tidy trick for a ship launched there in 1896. She now rests beside Glasgow's Riverside Museum, tall masts above the river that once built hundreds like her. I would ask where she has been, but the cargo hold and captain's cabin already have better answers than I could make up. Built at Port Glasgow, the three-masted vessel began as a cargo carrier and made her first commercial voyage by Cape Horn to Oregon. She later sailed as Islamount and Clarastella, then served the Spanish navy for decades as the training ship Galatea. Rescued from possible scrapping in the 1990s, restored and returned to her original name, she opened to visitors in 1999. This ship has had more names than a family dog adopted by three households. Go aboard to see the captain's cabin, cargo hold and engine room, which belongs to her later life. The displays let you try moving cargo with a pulley and hear or smell some of the conditions of a voyage. Stand on deck and look towards the modern city: the river's shipbuilding past is suddenly large enough to walk through. Admission is charged. Glenlee currently opens daily from ten until five, beginning at eleven on Tuesdays, with last entry half an hour before closing; private events can change a day. The ship has a lift, but tides can steepen the gangway and some ladders remain awkward, so check access and call ahead if needed. Hold tight on wet decks. Her sailing days are over, but she still knows how to take you somewhere.