HMS Wellington

A Grimsby-class sloop launched in 1934, moored at Temple Pier on the Victoria Embankment and open for private hire. She served the Royal Navy through the Battle of the Atlantic, came to the Thames in 1948 as the headquarters ship of the Honourable Company of Master Mariners, and is one of only sixteen major surviving Royal Navy historic ships on the National Historic Ships register. The Wellington Trust owns and runs her; hire revenue funds the conservation.

Because she was fitted out as a livery hall, the spaces below deck are unlike anything ashore. The Courtroom, built into the original engine room, is teak-clad and takes 180 for a reception or 120 seated. The Samoa Suite, once the Model Room and still hung with the Company's antique ship models, suits smaller dinners and receptions. The Auckland Suite was the Captain's cabin flat, is private from the rest of the ship, and opens directly onto the fo'c'sle. Above them the Quarterdeck and Boat Deck run the length of the stern under cover, with the Shard and the City to the east and Big Ben and the Eye to the west.

The ship hires room by room or in full, and the Trust works with four named catering partners rather than an in-house kitchen, so menus are built per event. The river view is the reason to be here: nothing else in central London puts a guest on the water with that skyline on both sides.