A TALL ship tied up at Poole Quay is proving to be a star attraction.

The Danish-built tall ship Kaskelot was attracting attention as soon as it moored on the town quay on Wednesday morning and it is remaining in port until Tuesday.

Visitors enjoying the sunshine and residents were soon thronging up the gangway to explore the wooden vessel, which is open to the public from 9am to 6pm daily.

"This is a great attraction for Poole Quay," said Graham Richardson, Poole Tourism manager. "Especially during the Easter holidays. It has been well received by everybody. Many more people will have the opportunity to go aboard over the coming days as it will be here until the 21st.

"The ship certainly adds to the fantastic setting of Poole Quay," he added.

A three-masted barque, she is one of the largest remaining wooden ships in commission and is said to be one of the finest traditionally rigged sailing vessels in the world.

Often used in TV and film productions the ship has been featured in Return to Treasure Island, the Three Musketeers, David Copperfield and Shackleton.

Down below in the cargo hold there is a display of traditional boat builders' tools and information about the ship.

She was built in 1948 as a traditional Baltic trader for the Royal Greenland Trading Company at the Svendborg shipyard in Denmark, to carry supplies to remote coastal settlements in East Greenland.

During the 1960s Kaskelot worked as a support vessel for fisheries in the Faroe Islands and was bought by Square Sail UK in 1981 and converted to replicate a traditional three-masted barque double topsail.

The vessel has been extensively renovated with a multi-million pound refit, retaining as many original features as possible while incorporating state-of-the-art equipment.

She sailed in to Poole from Plymouth and is based in London, where she is available for charter and filming opportunities.