From Sea to Screen and Back Again: The Ryelands

Article by Matthew Cole

In the heyday of Lancaster’s trading and manufacturing success, the name of Ryelands went out around the British Isles on a schooner built partly by the owner of Ryelands House, James Williamson. The ship later went on to feature in Hollywood blockbuster films, before coming home as a showpiece on Morecambe front.

Building “The Ryelands” in 1887 at Glasson Dock. Photo with thanks to Jackie Parkinson-Winter Brown

The Lancaster Gazette, Saturday 15th January 1887 announcing the launch of The Ryelands — The Lancaster Gazette of 15 January 1887 and the log of The Ryelands from two years later | Click the pictures for larger images

The Ryelands Ship's Log, 1889 — The Lancaster Gazette of 15 January 1887 and the log of The Ryelands from two years later | Click the pictures for larger images

The Ryelands was built for her first Captain, William Marrow of Connah’s Quay in Wales, an experienced seaman who had begun his career at sea aged 11, in 1854. The ship, a sister ship to the Mostyn, launched in August 1884, was built at Glasson Dock, although during the build, her keel laid in 1885. In a strange portent of its eventual life end, the schooner was almost destroyed by fire during building, but eventually launched in January 1887, three years after the Williamsons moved into Ryelands House.

A report in the Lancaster Gazette of Saturday 15th January 1887 notes a dinner for over thirty port officials and local dignitaries was held, and shipbuilders Nicholson and Marsh paid tribute to the Williamsons’ support for the project of making the three-masted, 102-foot craft, rigged fore and aft, capable of carrying 260 tons and accommodating a crew a dozen strong.

Registered at Lancaster, and owned by James Helme of Church Street, Lancaster, the ship visited a variety of British ports, shipping cargo, working in the coastal trade for many years, including ports in the West Country and frequently shipping China clay from Charlestown in Cornwall.

Her maiden voyage took her to Plymouth, arriving there on the 21st February. She then sailed to Guernsey (arriving 11th March), and was at Queensboro’ from Swansea on the 1st June. She continued trading essentially between Liverpool, Guernsey and London, although by 1889 she had made her first visit outside British waters, to Antwerp, and later that year went to Drammen, Norway, her first “foreign” voyage.

Later, under James’s son Herbert, remained active without any major changes into the 1920s. In 1929 The Ryelands was bought by Lancaster ship-owner Robert Gardner and fitted with an engine, installed by by Perman & Co. Ltd., London, to work from St George’s Quay, carrying bulk cargoes such as grain, sand, coal and stone between western ports.

Wooden ships were becoming outdated by the time of World War Two, but this article for the National Martime Museum Cornwall site notes Ryelands was purchased in 1942 by Captain Hugh Shaw for his son Kenneth to work in and around the Bristol Channel.

The schooner Ryelands being converted in the small dry dock at Ponsharden on the Penryn River, Cornwall to become the Hispaniola for the film Treasure Island | Image via Bartlett Library & Maritime Research Centre

The end of her working life came in 1948, and an application was made to the Transport Minister to change the name of the ship to Hispaniola. Disney went into partnership with RKO to make their first live action film, Treasure Island starring Robert Newton, released in 1950, which was filmed at Denham Film Studio in Buckinghamshire, whilst location filming took place elsewhere, including in Dorset and Cornwall. (During filming, pirates were often seen in the River Fal Estuary, and Falmouth). The ship was converted into the quintessential pirate ship by PK Harris & Sons Limited of Appledore, in North Devon.

The Scarborough Corporation bought the Hispaniola after filming was completed, bringing it to Scarborough in 1950, where she was moored alongside the centre pier, and converted into an aquarium below decks, with tropical fish on display. There is still a model of the Hispaniola in Scarborough.

*The Ryelands, as seen in the film Moby Dick | Photo: The Archive Photographs Series Morecambe Bay by Robert Alston*

Elstree Studios then bought the ship to play the part of the Pequod in John Huston’s adaptation of Moby Dick which he co-scripted with SF author Ray Bradbury, starring Gregory Peck as Captain Ahab. (Other ships were considered, including the Netherlands-based schooner, De Wadden).

Released in 1956, it was a great success and went on to be used in the popular TV series, The Buccaneers, starring Robert Shaw, produced by Sapphire Films Ltd., where she was named the Sultana. She also had other appearances in productions for the company, as the Moulin and in 1956, and as the Dilipa.

These roles required significant refitting, not just for The Ryelands’ outer appearance, but to provide dressing rooms and space for studio crew rather than seafarers.

In 1960, The Ryelands, bought by businessman, Peter Latham, came home to Glasson Dock to be made ready as a tourist showpiece for Morecambe front, where, under the name Moby Dick, it accommodated intricate models of craft from Chinese junks to the US nuclear submarine Robert E Lee, a model railway, amusement machines and even a juke box.

The Ryelands at Morecambe, 1970. Photo: David T. Jackson — *The Ryelands (as “Moby Dick”) at Morecambe, in early 1970. Photo: David T. Jackson*

*The Ryelands as the “Moby Dick” tourist attraction alongside the Stone Jetty at Morecambe (Photo: Lancaster Maritime Museum), and ablaze in 1970 (Photo: Red Rose Collection)*

The Ryelands as a tourist attraction alongside the Stone Jetty at Morecambe, and ablaze in 1970

Sadly, on 24th June 1970, fire destroyed most of the ship, the same afternoon that another major Morecambe attraction, The Alhambra Theatre, was gutted by a separate blaze across the road.

Writing for the Lancaster Civic Vision site, Peter Wade has previously noted that the fire on board was spotted by Jack Mount, as he was opening up for the day’s visitors.

“All he had to hand to fight the flames was a kettle and bucket,” Peter notes, also remarking that Moby Dick owner Peter Latham was among the crowd watching fire take hold of the Alhambra. “With the help of staff from nearby Kiddieland, a chain of buckets was set up but, with the fire taking hold as tar melted in the heat and a delay in transferring a fire engine from the Alhambra, hope of saving the Moby Dick slipped away.”

Despite the efforts of firefighters, the wooden vessel was reportedly reduced to a “charred wreck” within minutes.

Although an attempt was made to sink it in Morecambe Bay, the final journey of its wreckage was back to Glasson Dock, where The Ryelands was broken up, 84 years after its first launch.

The Moby Dick return to Morecambe for the 2025 Baylight ‘25 Festival as an illuminated galleon lighting up the waters, appearing to float gracefully in the bay.

Matthew Cole

Ryelands House Community Trust

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