Worldwide adventurer Michael Palin has returned to Pembrokeshire for the first time in over 40 years - in search of maritime history and the remarkable and tragic story of a Pembroke Dock-built warship.

On Wednesday, April 26, Michael visited the Pembroke Dock Heritage Centre and met up with naval historian and centre volunteer Ted Goddard to recall the story of HMS Erebus which was launched at Pembroke Dockyard in1826.

Michael is writing a book on HMS Erebus which, along with HMS Terror, took part in the ill-fated Franklin Expedition of the 1840s in the Canadian Arctic. Both vessels and their crews were lost and in recent years headlines have been made with the discovery of the very well preserved vessels in Arctic waters.

Erebus is the last remaining of the 260 warships built at Pembroke Dockyard between 1814 and 1922.

With former Western Telegraph deputy editor Ted as guide, Michael was shown displays at the Heritage Centre relating to HMS Erebus and also walked around areas of the Royal Dockyard which still remain nearly 200 years on. The Irish Ferries terminal, now part of the Port of Pembroke, covers the area where Erebus was constructed.

Michael, one of the ‘Monty Python’ team and star of such classic television series as ‘Around The World In 80 Days’, was last in Pembrokeshire in 1976 when filming locally for the well remembered ‘Jabberwocky’. Now, as in 1976, he stayed at the Old King’s Arms in Pembroke.

On Wednesday evening Michael surprised patrons at the Brewery Inn, Cosheston, where he joined new friends from the Sunderland Trust - which runs the Pembroke Dock Heritage Centre - for a meal.