The Island has been treated to some unusual sights in the past week with the arrival of the Queen Elizabeth 2, two United States Navy patrol craft, a 74- metre luxury yacht and three tall ships on a Christian pilgrimage.

The QE 2 berthed at Dockyard on Sunday after arriving from Boston with 1,517 passengers and left on Monday for Newport, Rhode Island.

Two tall ships, the Christian Radich and the Europa, moored on Front Street from Thursday to Saturday, while the third, the Statsraad Lehemichl, was at St. George's.

They arrived from Las Palmas in the Canary Islands as part of a fleet of ten tall ships which set sail from different parts of Europe for the United States to promote a better understanding of the faith of the Church of Latter Day Saints. The three ships are making their way towards New York.

The container ship Nordanhav from Aulds Cave, Nova Scotia, arrived on Friday at St. George's with a cargo of 8,000 tonnes of gravel.

The tanker Iver Express is due toreach Bermuda today from St. Croix in the US Virgin Islands, with fuel for the Esso pier in St. George's and the Shell pier at Dockyard.

The regular visiting cargo ship Oleander arrived on Sunday from Port Elizabeth, New Jersey, and left for there yesterday. She off-loaded 142 dry containers, 33 refrigerated containers, eight flatbeds, seven cars and one crane.

The regular cruise ships Horizon and Zenith arrived as normal in Hamilton and St. George's, but used different US departure ports because New York is closed following the September 11 terrorist attacks.

The Horizon, sailing from Philadelphia had 1,302 passengers, the Zenith from Baltimore had 1,157, and the Norwegian Majesty used its regular port of Boston and had 1,461 guests.

Bad weather forced the US Navy patrol ships Sirocco and Typhoon, which were returning home after a six-month stint off Spain, to anchor at Dockyard on Saturday. They left yesterday for Norfolk, Virginia.

The regular cruise ship Pacific Princess arrived at St. George's from Boston on Tuesday with 541 passengers and the Nordic Empress is due to arrive today at Dockyard from Philadelphia with 1,463 guests.

A luxury yacht, the 74-metre Katana, called in at St. George's to refuel on a voyage from Madeira to Fort Lauderdale in Florida.

Last week saw the tanker Maingas deposit propane gas at the Shell station at St. George's. She sailed from Clifton Pier in the Bahamas before heading for Point Lisas in Trinidad.