McNeece To Design Royal Clipper's 4-Masfed Barquentines

U.K. passenger ship interior design specialist McNeece Ltd. secured the contract to carry out the complete interior and exterior public area design of two four-masted Barquentine passenger sail cruise liners to be built in Europe for Royal Clippers of Antwerp, Belgium. McNeece's contract calls for the full design of the vessels' interiors and supervision during outfitting.

This is the first time that McNeece has been involved with sailing vessels.

The company has a proven track record from working on passenger cruise vessels: passenger ferries, passenger cruise liners and high speed ferries The 397-ft. (121-m) Royal Clipper vessels, with a mast height of 233 ft. (71 m) and a sail area of 3,410-sq.-m., will reportedly be the largest "classic" design sail cruise vessels in the world.

Designed for operation worldwide, the Barquentine's shallow draft (19 ft. [5.73 m] maximum) will enable them to enter ports and harbors not normally accessible by larger cruise vessels. Both vessels will initially operate in the West Indies. The vessel will be modeled after the large sailing yachts of the early 1900s. The hull will be steel throughout. Each vessel will accommodate about 150 passengers, and will be of a style of rounded section with a bold flair, Clipper bow, a long counter stern and little or no parallel midbody. Delivery of the first vessel is set for April 1996, with the second following a year later.