TS Indefatigable Training Ship " Indefatigable " was a British training school for boys intending to join the Royal Navy or the British Merchant Navy . Origins . Until the middle of the nineteenth century the British Merchant Navy had no recognized training schools for boys entering the service . Education consisted of boys about 15 years old going to sea " to be led , guided , bullied and socialized into the culture of the sea " . There was no distinction between training for AB , and the training of future masters . Through experience it was possible to rise to the position of Master without any formal training . Beginning in the mid - nineteenth century various forms of navigational and seamanship schools were created to remedy the problem Liverpool . Two schools were established in Liverpool , HMS " Conway " , to prepare boys to go to sea as apprentice officers , and the TS " Indefatigable " to prepare boys for life at sea as a member of the deck crew . In 1863 captain John Clint , a Liverpool shipowner , proposed the idea that a sea training school should be established for the orphans and sons of Liverpool seamen . Clint had helped found the Liverpool Shipowners ' Association in 1839 , the Pilots ' Commission , the Dock and Harbour Company , the Liverpool Sailors ' Home , the Northern Hospital , but most importantly Clint had been the prime mover in establishing HMS " Conway " and the " Akbar " , a reformatory school for boys . In 1864 the Admiralty agreed to loan HMS " Indefatigable " , a fifty – gun sailing ship frigate , launched in 1848 , and retired from active service in 1857 to the " Indefatigable " committee . Mr . James Bibby contributed £5 , 000 to convert HMS " Indefatigable " into a training ship , and this became the beginning of a long relationship between the Bibby family and TS " Indefatigable " , which continues today with Sir Michael Bibby as President of the Indefatigable Old Boys Association . The Indefatigable was moored off Rock Ferry on the River Mersey alongside HMS " Conway " , " Akbar " and " Clarence " , both reformatory ships . The first boys to join the Indefatigable did so on the 28th August 1865 . The original " Indefatigable " remained off Rock Ferry until 1912 when it was deemed unfit for use . In 1913 , the Admiralty agreed to sell HMS " Phaeton " to the " Indefatigable " committee for £15 , 000 . Mr . Frank Bibby gave the " Indefatigable " committee the money to buy the " Phaeton " and re - fit her as a training ship . The " Phaeton " was renamed the " Indefatigable " and moored off Rock Ferry on January 15 , 1914 , at which time the figurehead of William IV was transferred from the old " Indefatigable " to the new " Indefatigable " . World War II . The " Indefatigable " remained on the Mersey until 1941 , when it was decided that the intense German bombing of Liverpool during World War II made it too dangerous to remain anchored on the river Mersey . HMS " Conway " was towed to Anglesey . However , the decision was made to make the TS " Indefatigable " a land - based school in the future and the old TS " Indefatigable " was sold for scrap . Later in 1941 the admiralty re - purchased " Indefatigable " / ex " Phaeton " , renamed it " Carrick II " , and used it as a store ship on the River Clyde throughout the rest of World War II . In 1947 , after the war , the " Indefatigable " was finally broken up after 64 years of service . Anglesey . Temporary accommodation was initially found at a disused holiday camp at Clwydd Newydd , Ruthin , North Wales , before moving to Plas Llanfair in Llanfairpwllgwyngyll on the Menai straits between North Wales and Anglesey in 1944 . Plas Llanfair was once home to Admiral Lord Clarence Paget ( 1811 – 1895 ) , commander - in - chief of the Mediterranean fleet from 1866 to 1869 . Paget was the fourth son of the 1st Marquess of Anglesey ( 1758 – 1854 ) , whose column towers above the school . Admiral Paget also had the statue of Lord Nelson erected on the banks of the Menai Strait in 1877 as an aid to navigation . In 1945 the TS " Indefatigable " merged with the Lancashire National Sea Training Home for boys and renamed The Indefatigable and National Sea Training School for boys . Although this was the official name the school was always known as the Indefatigable . Boys entered at aged fourteen , graduating at age sixteen to either the Merchant or Royal Navy . The Indefatigable was divided into four divisions ; Drake , Raleigh , Rodney and Hood , with approximately thirty boys to each division . The school had three types of students , fee paying , orphans , and council subsidized boys . Up until the mid - 1960s , positions were readily available in the British Merchant fleet and Royal Navy for graduating students . However , as the British Merchant Navy declined from a high of 3 , 112 British registered ships in 1957 , to a low of 368 registered ships in 2001 , positions at sea for the boys became difficult to find , and the school had to change from a sea - training school to a regular academic public school in an effort to attract more students . The End . In 1989 new classrooms and sports facilities were built and the age of entry was lowered to the age of 11 . However , the numbers continued to fall to around 120 in 1994 / 5 with an estimated 100 for 1996 . The school could not carry on with these numbers , and at the end of term in 1995 the school was closed . The school was purchased by the Ministry of Defence in 1996 and renamed The Joint Service Mountain Training Centre Indefatigable . A £4 million refurbishment began in July 1998 and the first students arrived in April 1999 . The Nuffield Trust partly funded the cost of the refurbishment . In 1983 , the Indefatigable Old Boys Association was created and an annual reunion is held at the school each year where the Ministry of Defence gives ex - students access to the old school .