Finding and Converting A Ship Into A Showboat
The Stanhsalls obtained funds from The Small Firms Loan Guarantee Scheme, whereby a bank lends the money, and the UK government guarantees the loan. The SS Thekla was considered ideal. Everything had to be refurbished from the U-boat engine (left over from the Second World War, as mentioned above), to the leaky hydraulics to the winch for raising and lowering the anchors. In the summer of 1983, she set sail for Bristol on the opposite side of Britain, a city chosen because Vivian had once played there as frontman for The Bonzo Dog Band, and because Ki liked the site and sound of the place.
Fresh out of dry dock with her bottom scraped, she was covered in a new coat of black paint and white paint over her original colors of pale blue and white, with red chosen for the stack. With all the ironwork and welding accomplished, the SS Thekla sailed 732 nautical miles (1,356 km) to Bristol in six days and six nights.
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