An Italian-built all-wood tall ship is currently at Meyer Industries yard in St. George's on her first trip to Bermuda.

Todd Kaufman, the ship's captain, told The Royal Gazette that Cassiopeia spent the winter in the Caribbean and is now in Bermuda for general maintenance before heading back to the Mediterranean.

The ketch was built at Torre Del Greco at the Compano shipyard. She is approximately 95 feet in length, 23.5 feet wide with a gross weight of 172 tonnes. Her hull consists of two-and-three-quarter-inch thick planking on oak frames with an inner skin of planking to hold the marble she was made to transport.

The Cassiopeia , named for a constellation, is luxuriously equipped with a master state room aft which spans the complete breadth of the vessel. She has cherrywood finish throughout, satellite TV and all of the latest navigational systems although Kaufman stresses that he tends to use celestial navigation.

The crew consists of the captain, a first mate, chef and two deck stewards.

The ship's keel was laid in 1940 in Naples and was then deliberately sunk to prevent her becoming a prize of war.

She was salvaged a few years later, construction was completed and she began plying the waters off the Italian coast taking marble from southern Italy to ports in the North.

Four other similar vessels of varying sizes were built in Italy, the Cassiopeia being one of the smaller ships. The Tritora , a somewhat larger ship, was at one time owned by Christina Onassis and given as a gift to her former husband Thierry Roussel.

Once her trading days were over in the late 1950s, the Cassiopeia was moored at Kennedy quay in Monte Carlo for many years before she was converted for use as a pleasure yacht.

Photos by Arthur Bean Close up: The Cassiopea's rudder and propellor.

Shining like a star: The Cassiopeia is undergoing maintenance at Meyers Industries shipyard in St. George's.