Bounty of historic maritime pleasure

Seafaring performers and nautical attractions will descend on Hull as part of a re-launched heritage event.

Musical venue: Sea shanties will be performed below the deck of the Syntan, one of the vessels visiting Hull for the festival	Ameland, sea shanty singers from Holland, performed last year

Renamed as Hull's Maritime Festival, the event will incorporate Sea Fever, Hull's long established and popular International Sea Shanty Festival.
"The festival is of enormous benefit to the city," said retired Humber tugboat captain Shanty Jack, the artistic director of the festival.
"I've been involved since it was first held 18 years ago and the re-launch will give it even more buzz this year.
"It has built up an enthusiastic and loyal following from performers and boatmen and is a popular tourist attraction.
"People book hotels and come back year after year. There's nothing like it anywhere else in the country."
The focus will be the open-air stage at Hull Marina where there will be shanty singers and street theatre performances.
A selection of barges that once worked the waterways of the Humber region will be on show in the marina, including Amy Howson, Comrade and Syntan.
The buoyant atmosphere will also extend to the Green Bricks and Minerva pubs for yet more maritime music and song.
There will also be demonstrations of woodcarving and maritime arts and crafts on the quayside, and your chance to try canoeing in Princes Dock.

Decks appeal

Meanwhile, a full-scale working replica of HMS Bounty will be one of the star attractions of the festival.
The vessel, made infamous after the 1789 mutiny between Captain Bligh and Fletcher Christian, is expected to pull in the crowds during its visit to Albert Dock.
Built on the River Hull in 1784 as merchant ship The Bethia, the original vessel was later bought and renamed by the Admiralty to begin its ill-fated voyage to the South Pacific to collect breadfruit plants from Tahiti and transport them to the Caribbean as a food source for African slaves.
The original HMS Bounty was burned at Pitcairn Island after the uprising, but the replica was built in 1960 for the movie Mutiny on the Bounty starring Marlon Brando. The replica recently found new fame as pirate ship the Black Pearl in Pirates of the Caribbean II: Dead Man's Chest.
The visit has been funded by a partnership between Hull City Council, Associated British Ports (ABP), Hull Bid Co, and Visit Hull and East Yorkshire Ltd.
"To bring the Bounty to Hull during the Maritime Festival is a real coup," said Cllr Andy Sloan, who has responsibility for tourism in the city.
"I'd like to thank all the organisations that have worked with the council to bring her here, particularly ABP which is kindly accommodating the vessel in one of its busy working docks."
The visit to Hull forms part of a nationwide tour taking in Maryport in Cumbria, Bristol, London, Southampton and Portsmouth. Then the vessel will set sail for the south seas to recreate its historic voyage.
It will arrive in the city on August 30 and leave on September 3.