Westcountry ketch, Bessie Ellen, sailed past Looe on her way from Fowey to Sutton Harbour in Plymouth at the weekend, providing a great spectacle for all those enjoying the first real rays of sun on the beaches.

She would have been a regular sight on the route between 1907 and 1940 when she worked as a cargo delivery vessel. Sutton Harbour, her home for the next week has extra significance for the 120 year old ketch - she was built there in 1904. 

The trading ketch is celebrating her 120th birthday with a circumnavigation of the British Isles which began with a first leg in Milford Haven, Gloucester in April and concludes with a Cornish taster sail in Falmouth in September.

Bessie Ellen’s round Britain tour sees her call in at fourteen ports around the UK, including the Orkney Islands, Newcastle, Ramsgate and Cornish ports of Newlyn, Falmouth, and the Isles of Scilly. 

The commemorative tour diverted to France for the 30th anniversary celebrations of the Brest Maritime Festival in Douarnenez, the largest maritime festival in Europe showcasing 1000 vessels, before returning on the 11th leg of her tour to British waters. 

Bessie Ellen was discovered, and rescued from mud, in Denmark by owner and skipper Nikki Alford 24 years ago. She had been sailed from the Bristol Channel to Denmark in 1947, where she sailed with cargos such as peat, grain and scrap iron. 

She was restored in Denmark before being returned to the UK to build a boat charter business offering tall ship sailing holidays. 

Built entirely of wood Bessie Ellen still flies her original flag, and is on the national historic ships register as an important vessel to conserve.

Jo Downie, director of Venturesail who organise her boat trips said: “She’s one of the last remaining westcountry ketches so she’s really quite precious.”

All sail dates on her tour are now sold out but Bessie Ellen will be available to view in Sutton Harbour in Plymouth until August 8 before she leaves for the next leg of her tour to Newlyn and the Isles of Scilly.