Major Mick, 85, makes final journey on Tintanic

Major Mick, wearing a union jack suit and a black sea captain's peaked cap, sits in his tin bath boat, with a pair of oars, as he rows it on water. The boat is decorated with a Union Jack buntingImage source, PA Media
Image caption,

Major Mick made his final outing in Tintanic II

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Retired Army Major Mick Stanley has completed his final charity row in his homemade boat Tintanic II.

Eighty-five year-old Major Mick, as he is known, built his boat around five years ago at his home in West Wittering and has since raised thousands of pounds for charities including St Wilfrid's Hospice in Chichester.

He set off from The Hard at Itchenor in West Sussex at 12:00 BST on Friday and rowed to the Chichester Yacht Club at Birdham for the boat's final voyage.

"This is the final outing for me, I think it's time to end it, it's given me great satisfaction, very rewarding," he said.

An elderly man with white hair holding a blue sail with T3 on it in white. He is standing inside a workshop with tools and differet materials around including corrugated iron, wood and metalImage source, BBC/LIZ SAUL
Image caption,

Plans for another boat, Tintanic III, are already taking shape in Mick's workshop at his home in West Wittering

Major Mick has completed a distance of 500 miles (804km) and raised over £90,000 for three charities: Alzheimer's Research UK, Children on the Edge and St Wilfrid's Hospice in Chichester.

He has rowed all over Scotland, Wales and England in canals, lakes, rivers and the open sea, as well as a day on the Seine in Paris.

This winter Mick will be building Tintanic III. "This will be a sailing boat which will be two feet longer than Tintanic II," he said.

It will again be made from corrugated iron and Mick hopes to have it ready for launch by spring.

"My daughter says I'm a bit eccentric, I don't mind that," he added.

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