MORE than 10,000 people climbed aboard a historic ship as part of the return of a popular sea festival.

The Pelican of London welcomed around 6,000 people on Saturday and a further 5,000 people on Sunday for the Barrow Sea Festival.

The festival returned in full force over the weekend as a number of tall ships arrived in Buccleuch Dock to the delight of onlookers.

Among those was the Pelican of London which arrived in Barrow Town Quay early Saturday morning.

The public was able to climb aboard her for the duration of the festival.

The ship is owned by the youth development charity Seas Your Future, offering young people sail training and ocean science voyages. The charity takes young people, many from disadvantaged backgrounds, on voyages to develop employability skills, ocean science skills, environmental awareness, character, confidence, resilience, teamwork and more.

Pelican of London sails for 46-48 weeks each year with up to 35 young trainees and 12 professional crew and volunteers.

Adrian Ragbourne, CEO of Seas Your Future, said it was a ‘delight’ to return to Barrow.

He said: "It was a delight to be back in Barrow again, on Saturday alone we had approximately 5,000 visitors aboard the Pelican! We continue to look forward to annual visits to Cumbria in the future offering sail training to youngsters from the area."

Yasmin Deter, of Seas Your Future, added: "It has been a very successful event and we are pleased to see so many people interested in the work that we do as well as our tall ship Pelican. We look forward to voyaging back to Barrow again next year for the festival."

Mark Packer, of The Shark Trust, said: "I have never seen so many people in my life."