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Merlin Quay, on the banks of the River Itchen in Southampton has been selected as the shipbuilding site for the JST's new 65 metre wooden ship This is tremendous news for Southampton, which already has a strong association with the JST through its current ship, STS LORD NELSON.

This area of the River Itchen has long been famous for the World War II Spiffire plane and the Merlin Quay premises were originally constructed for building hovercraft in the early 1970's. Much of the infrastructure in the shipbuilding all this is already in place making it an ideal site. Access by road via Woolston, and by sea along the River Itchen to a pontoon directly infront of the shipbuilding hall will increase the site's potential as a new tourist attraction for the Southampton area.

Plans to build the ship in Portsmouth's Historic Dockyard were discontinued in 1995 due to escalating costs. The move to Southampton has been warmly welcomed by

Southampton City Council who will continue to give their full support to the project.

Councillor John Arnold, leader of the City Council is delighted that the JST have chosen Southampton as the birthplace for their new ship as it lends further support to

Southampton's bid to be Europe's Maritime City 2000. was given an enormous boost last July when the National Lottery Sports Fund awarded the JST a grant of over £4 million, on the basis of partnership funding. Teams of fund-raisers are working throughout the country to raise the balance of approximately £2 million still required.