See the tall ship which starred in a Ridley Scott movie - and berthed in Hartlepool Marina this week

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A tall ship which has starred in films has graced Hartlepool Marina in a one-day visit which attracted lots of interest.

The two-masted brig Phoenix, which is 112ft long and has a crew of up to eight people, called in to town for an overnight stay on Wednesday much to the delight of bosses at Hartlepool Marina.

Company director Allan Henderson said tall ships often make a visit to Hartlepool because the town first made such an impact when it hosted The Tall Ships Races in 2010 as well as a preview event a year earlier in 2009.

He added:”They know they can come to the marina fairly easily and the Phoenix is one of the biggest that we can get through the lock.”

The ship, which was originally built by Hjorne & Jakobsen of Frederikshavn, Denmark in 1929, is certainly well known to film and television viewers.

In 1991 she was in Ridley Scott's film 1492 Conquest of Paradise and remained under that guise until 1996.

Then she was converted to a two-masted 18th Century Brig.

She has also starred in the TV series Hornblower, Frenchman's Creek and The Scarlet Pimpernel.

Hartlepool will once again welcome back the Tall Ships in 2023 by once again being a host port for the international sailing races, along with Den Helder in the Netherlands, Fredrikstad, in Norway, and Lerwick, in Scotland.

Hartlepool Borough Council submitted a bid to the race organisers in 2020 to host the event in summer 2023.

It was backed by The National Museum of the Royal Navy, Hartlepool Marina Ltd, port operator PD Ports and the Tees Valley Combined Authority.

The Hartlepool leg of 2023’s event has now been confirmed for Thursday, July 6, to Sunday, July 9.

Hundreds of thousands of visitors from all over the UK visited Hartlepool Marina when it last hosted the Tall Ships Races in 2010.

The races are held every year in European waters and are designed to encourage international friendship and training for young people.

Vessels from all over the world sailed into Hartlepool in the four-day festival in August 2010 and generated an estimated £26.5m for the local economy.