TODAY she sits safely berthed on the River Clyde, a living museum enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.
In the tranquil surroundings of Pointhouse Quay beside the Riverside Museum, it is easy to forget that Glasgow's Tall Ship the Glenlee wasn't always just a tourist attraction.
But in her glory days she plied the world's oceans as one of the last merchant vessels of the great age of sail, criss-crossing the globe on nothing more than the wind and the skills of her sailors.
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And now an extraordinary window has been opened into her past the discovery of a treasure trove of photographs detailing her final voyage as a sailing ship before she was sold to the Spanish navy and fitted out with engines for the first time.
Reg Mitchell
The pictures show her final voyage under the red ensign of the UK, and were taken by a Scottish apprentice named Reg Mitchell who joined the ship's company aged just 14 and went on to make his life at sea.
Yet the voyage would be a hard one for Mr Mitchell and his crewmates, as the ship encountered a hurricane and the crew was struck with fever before her sails were pointed for home.
The photographs came to light through the diligent research of Elizabeth Allen, of the Clyde Maritime Trust - the organisation which raised the money and arranged for the Glenlee to be brought to Glasgow.
Using genealogical, she was able to track down Mr Mitchell's daughter Sue Grant, who was just four-year-old when her father died at the age of 52 and now lives in New Zealand.
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Ms Allen said: "I've written books on the Glenlee but was always fascinated by the lives of the crew and really wanted to know more about them.
"I had some time on my hands earlier this year and set about trying to track down any of the descendants of the men who served on her, and was amazed to find Sue Grant.
"And I was gobsmacked when she said she had pictures from the voyage. There are so few records of actual voyages from the time that these are photographic gold dust."
Sailors on the Glenlee
Built in Port Glasgow in 1896, the steel-hulled, three-masted Glenlee - then named the Islamount - was made on the orders of a Glasgow company.
Even though sailing ships were being replaced by steam and later diesel engines, the Glenlee was put to work carrying cargo around the world, and Mr Mitchell's pictures were taken on a trip between New York and Sydney in Australia where the ship was bound with a cargo of case oil.
The voyage was mostly plain sailing - yet when Sydney appeared on the horizon disaster struck as the winds began to pick up and the rough seas nearly sank the Islamount.
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Mr Mitchell was able to capture a moment just before the storm hit, snapping a picture of the boat listing sideways as the seas grew rough.
And excerpt from the nautical journal Sea Breezes written by one of the sailors encapsulates the sailors' plight as they were left fearing for their lives.
It says: "The wind suddenly increased to hurricane force, our topsails were blown from their bolt ropes, the vessel heeled over, the cargo shifted and thus she remained on her beam ends.
"All hands were hanging on to the poop [deck] where we remained for the rest of the night in a very miserable plight wit the roaring wind and wet through with the lashing rain awaiting every moment for the old Islamount to go down as she was completely out of control at the mercy of the high and terrific seas."
The Glenlee at sea
Luckily, the storm abated the next day and the ship was able to lift into port with no lives lost.
But things were just as bad on the return journey. The ship reached Capetown, South Africa, in November 1918 just in time for the crew to hear of the Armistice which ended the First World War, and then sailed for Indonesia, where fever was rife.
The sickness swept through the crew days later when they were at sea, almost claiming the life of the captain and carrying off one of the sailors, who was buried at sea.
Eventually, the ship returned to South Africa and berthed at Durban, where medical aid was available.
The tall ship then sailed to the French Port, where she was sold to the Spanish navy and ended her life as a British-registered trading ship. It would be 75 years before she returned to her Glasgow home again.
The pictures from Reg Mitchell’s family include shots of him with other apprentices in locations on board which look similar to the Glenlee today, the Glenlee at sea, Mr Mitchell on board in Capetown and other archive images of him later in life.
He would go on to become a Ship’s Master, and led an eventful life as a merchant seaman, including spending time as a POW during WWII after being captured by the Germans.
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