A GLOBAL campaign has saved a British maritime giant.

When volunteers at Lee-on-Solent’s Hovercraft Museum were told the beloved SRN4 craft stored there would have to be moved or destroyed, they launched a petition to protect them.

But little did they know the extent of public affection for the three tonne vessels – the petition reached just short of 20,000 signatures in under two weeks.

With support from Princess Anne, Jeremy Clarkson, and Sir Ranulph Fiennes, trustees at the museum have been able to convince the Homes and Communities Agency, which has earmarked the land the historic craft sits on for development, that they are worth saving.

Trustee Ben Avery today said: “It’s looking positive. It looks like we will be saving one of the craft with an initial three-year project.

“We will be launching a go-fund-me appeal to stabilise the craft before opening them to the public. We’ve got a couple of weeks til we sign the lease, then up to three years to prove that we can actually stabilise them.”

Recognising the public’s help in supporting the campaign, the 28-year-old boat master said: “It’s not just local support – We’ve had support from America, Australia and New Zealand. It’s really really encouraging.”

As well as an initial campaign to raise £20,000, the museum will also be looking for donations and physical help with the restoration project.

“We are looking for engineers, painters, people who are good with metal work or just to simply clean and move stuff around.

“We’d like to double the number of volunteers we have at the moment,” Mr Avery said.

The Princess Anne will be surveyed to find out the extent of the damage, making the roof watertight a priority.

“Then we’ll have to get the decks sorted, put the propellers back on and repaint it in its original Seaspeed colours.

"It’s very good timing. The Princess Margaret is in an awful condition but we’ve caught the Princess Anne just in time,” Mr Avery, who has been involved with the museum since he was 11 years old, said.

And once the Princess Anne is fit for visitors, the possibilities are endless. “We’ve already had an enquiry about hosting a wedding reception there,” Mr Avery said.