Tall ship in Grand Harbour

The Rumanian training ship Mircea, which had visited Malta on its first cruise 69 years ago, tomorrow leaves the Grand Harbour at the end of one of the longest voyages she has ever undertaken.

On that trip she also called at Southampton in the UK and Lisbon in Portugal. She has called here on other occasions with the last call being in 2004.

She sailed into Grand Harbour on Monday at 7 a.m. and is berthed at the Deep Water Quay. The Mircea is expected to leave tomorrow at 9 a.m.

On board is a complement of 162, including a cadet from the Netherlands, said Bogdan Dinu, a senior editor with the Romanian Navy mass media group, during an interview on board the ship yesterday.

The ship usually invites cadets from other countries to join in the voyages and last year there were cadets from Ukraine, Turkey, the Netherlands and Italy.

There are 60 officers and petty officers and the student body incorporates 35 students from the Naval Academy in Costanta, by the Black Sea, in Rumania who are training to become officers, and 47 students following the petty officer course. The rest are crew.

During this year's cruise, the Mircea called at Cagliari, Malaga, Rouen, Brest, Rotterdam, Copenhagen, Restok, Fowey, near Plymouth in the UK, and Lisbon.

Leaving Valletta, the ship will sail for its base in Costanta, a voyage that will take seven days.

The Mircea would have been 114 days at sea covering over 10,000 miles, making it one of its longest voyages.

"Although the Mircea is a very safe ship, it does roll quite a bit in rough weather. The Atlantic and the North Sea can be rough indeed," Mr Dinu said.

The complement includes nine women with two forming part of the crew and the rest students.

All hands were on deck yesterday morning helping out in carrying food on board including bottled water and sacks of potatoes with Mr Dinu pointing out that "we do not take on board pre-cooked or preserved food. Our cooks prepare traditional dishes using fresh ingredients".

Like other navies and armed forces in other countries, finding new recruits is becoming ever more difficult. Conscription in Romania was stopped four years ago.

"Young men and women can find a more rewarding job financially in Civvy Street without the tight schedule and tough discipline that one finds on board a naval vessel," Mr Dinu explained.

The Mircea is an A Class barque - which is a three-masted boat - and is named after Mircea cel Batran (1386-1418) who was one of the most important rulers of Wallachia, as Romenia was then known. In fact, the ship's figurehead represents Prince Mircea.

She was built by Blohm & Vossin in Hamburg, Germany and has served as a training ship since she was launched except for a brief period at the end of WWII when she was seized by the Russians.

The Mircea is 81.18 metres long, has a gross tonnage of 1,320 tons and a displacement of 1,844 tons. She has 23 sails with a surface area of 1,750 square metres.

She is represented locally by Kirton & Co Ltd.