Shown below are  photographs of the arrival and installation of the renovated model ship TSS Ville D'Alger, on 18 Jan
06, in our main reception area. This model was vandalised during a break-in in 1993.

Mr Eugene O'Kane, now retired from the Royal Marines (rank of Captain), a part time nautical researcher and model ship expert, agreed to take on the extensive  renovation work required. The model originally was a "half model" in that  it had no hull. This fact was
concealed by imitating the ship at sea, with plastic waves, etc. Mr O'Kane upgraded the model by removing the fake sea and turning the model into full size,  giving it a hull for proper display purposes.  Researching the actual ship, he obtained the original design plans of TSS Ville D'Alger from the French Marine Society and completed the model to scale, retaining as much of the original as was possible. Working in his spare time, the restoration work took over 4 years to complete.

The Victoria and Albert Museum kindly donated a display case to the school for the model's final berth on its return. A real coup by Mr
O'Kane  was the discovery and purchase for the school of an original medal given to crew members at the ship's launch in 1935.

Through Mr O'Kane we know more about this model now than before it was vandalised. The Ville D'Alger was an express mail ship travelling between Marseilles and Algiers in 16 hours, plying its trade on behalf of Compagnie Generale Transatlantique. Built in 1935, its gross tonnage was 9760 tons and it was 147.5 metres in length. It never fell into enemy hands in the 2nd World War and was used as a troop ship operating to Norway.  Mr O'Kane has passed on to the school all the detailed information from his research.