Restoration work starts on famous Hull trawler in readiness for city's maritime exhibition

• Video report by ITVs Sally Simpson

Hull's last surviving sidewinder deep-water trawler, has been taken out of the water and dry-docked for the first time in 30 years.

The Arctic Corsair went into the nautical equivalent of hair and make up today. She is being preened and primped in readiness for her starring role in Hull's new multi-million pound exhibition of the city's maritime history.

• Bird's eye view of the Arctic Corsair

Dave Kipling is one of the people tasked with working to restore the Corsair. He was part of the ship's maintenance team in the 1970s. He still has nothing but praise for her.

He said: "After 25 years I never expected to see paintwork like that. I never lost my boyhood fascination for trawlers so it's exciting. Seeing everybody down here and the activity it's created it's like being back in the old days working on fish dock and getting it ready for sea."

The painstaking process of bringing the ship back to her former glory begins now. But it will be at least twelve months until she makes her final journey to the brand new visitor centre at North End Shipyard.

Mr Kipling added: "It's fantastic because we'll see all that heritage handed back down there'll be a lot of people working on it now who when it's in a museum will be able to say I 'worked on that' be able to tell their grandchildren or their own children."

Built in 1960, the Arctic Corsair is a veteran of the Cod Wars of the 70s. Saved from the scrap heap in 1999 she was turned into a museum by those fighting to preserve the city's heritage. 

She added: " It's all possible due to the support of the National Lottery Heritage Fund that the project's receiving alongside the investment of the council and being able to see that come to fruition a lot of years of hard work and planning have gone into getting to this stage so seeing her here today is just brilliant."

Specialist maritime architects will be next on the scene working to preserve the ship's interior. By next year, she will be ready to give up the secrets of her illustrious past.