Entrance to Royal Hospital School, Greenwich with training ship Fame in the background. Repro ID: H1278. ©National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, LondonThe 'ship' was in fact a simulated training ship called the Fame - there were three Fames in succession and none was an actual vessel.

The first was built at Chatham Dockyard in 1843 and was dismantled and re-erected at the Royal Hospital School, Greenwich. It consisted of topsides laid on sleepers and simulated a corvette of 500 tons. The second one was put in place in 1862. The third was built on site by a party of apprentice shipwrights. The supervisor was Lt John Rouse. It cost £250 and simulated a vessel of 1200 tons. The boys used it as a training ship during their last six months at the school. By 1926 it had fallen into disrepair and was used a garage for the schoolteachers' cars. In 1933 it was sold for £5 for breaking up. The figurehead of Fame blowing her trumpet was taken to Holbrook in Ipswich where the school moved in 1933. Some of the stern carvings are in the Mariner's Museum in the USA.