Cardiff, Wales - Save The Elena Maria Barbara!

A rare, 18th-century schooner replica, restored to the tune of around £1 million, could be abandoned if a buyer is not found soon.

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The boat is ‘really brand new’ after extensive work over more than 10 years and could be bought for around £125,000.

The Elena Maria Barbara is a 95ft (29m) replica of an 18thcentury Baltic topsail schooner. She was built in 1995 in St Petersburg to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the founding of the Russian navy by Peter the Great. There were only a handful of replicas built at the time, one of them being the well-known Pickle. The design, used by the British, French and Russian navies, was for a vessel that could sail fast to deliver important messages.