The three-masted barque Favell ghosting up the Channel in summer

The three-masted steel barque Favell was one of the three sisters which comprised the last square-rigged sailing ships to be launched from the famous Bristol yard of C. Hill & Sons. Built in 1895, she was registered at 1,309 tons gross (1,247 net) and measured 237½ feet in length with a 36 foot beam. Initially operated by her builder, she was sold to Russian owners in 1897 who kept her for ten years before selling her to the Finnish Schoolship Association for use as a cadet training ship. This final phase of her career proved extremely successful and she turned in regular profits for twenty-five years as well as giving generations of young Finns their enthusiasm for life at sea. Apart from a minor collision in the English Channel in 1933, she was an accident-free ship which became increasingly loved as she grew older. In December 1934, when she was finally broken up, "her owners removed her bell and returned it to her builders as a gesture of courtesy and appreciation for a fine little ship well built."