Fifty years ago an all-girl crew sailed on board the British tall ship ‘Sir Winston Churchill’ from Bermuda to Newport Rhode Island, New York and Boston to celebrate the USA bicentennial. Fifty years later, on the July 4 2026, 14 of those original crew gathered at Mountbatten in Plymouth for a daysail on board the two ships owned by The Island Trust, the ‘Johanna Lucretia’ and ‘Moosk’.

Fortunately the weather was very similar to that of 50 years ago - bright, sunny, too hot and very light winds.

Not enough to get becalmed, as they once were in the Bermuda Triangle, but just enough to tack to and fro inside the breakwater and over to Cawsand Bay.

Once there, the ‘Johanna Lucretia’ dropped anchor, with ‘Moosk’ tying up alongside.

The perfect setting for an al-fresco lunch on deck, before sailing back to their regular berths.

The girl crew were more than happy to assist with the rope work, pulling on halyards to hoist sails just as they had done all those decades before.

The reunion weekend celebration continued at the Plym Yacht Club on the Saturday evening and Waypoint Bar & Restaurant for Sunday lunch.

Although many of the friendships have endured over the years, there was much catching up to be done, with many stories reminisced from the month spent on board – from the tall ships parade of sail on the July 4, the ticker-tape parade down Broadway, sailing past the Royal Yacht ‘Britannia’ to marching past the Queen and Prince Philip in Boston.

Although many of the girls had reunited every 10 years, it was in 2006 for their anniversary, that the girls were presented to Prince Philip at the start of the tall ships race in Torbay.

Although most of the girls are based in the UK, including several from as near as Plymouth, Dartmouth and Teignmouth, a couple of the girls had flown in from New Zealand and Hawaii for this very special final reunion.