A FAMOUS old lifeboat is back on the ocean waves after nearly five years of dedicated work.

The Princess Royal is to commemorate the £50,000 restoration of the Princess Royal lifeboat, which is to be used as a floating museum at Hartlepool Marina.

It was Princess Alice - Princess Anne's predecessor as Princess Royal - who christened the boat in Hartlepool in 1941, giving it her name.

The boat cost £10,145 to make - about £1m in today's money - and saved lives even before her naming.

In 1939, she was involved in rescuing the pilot of the first Spitfire to be shot down off the North-East coast, near Redcar.

One of her crew's finest moments was the rescue of five Navy men off the coast of Hartlepool in January 1942, for which the boat and her crew received the RNLI gold medal.

The 46ft vessel rescued 94 people before she sailed out of Hartlepool, seemingly for the last time, in 1968.

The Princess Royal, built from mahogany, bronze and brass, seemed certain to face a sad end at a wrecking yard at Barry Island, in Wales.

That was until former Merchant Navy engineer Brian Stringer, who remembers polishing The Princess Royal's brasswork as a boy, stepped in.

He formed a rescue party and the boat was bought back for Hartlepool at the cost of a single penny.

A team of 12 volunteers, helped by youngsters and other groups along the way, spent nearly five years restoring her.

Restoration money came from various sources, including the North Hartlepool Partnership and local companies, including Heerema.

Mr Stringer said: "There has been such a wonderful effort for this and it will be able to serve the town all over again in a different role."

Published: 25/09/2004