THE painstaking work to preserve the Newport ship is under way - but it may be three decades before the historic vessel is restored.

Now Newport city council is shortly to publish plans for the conservation and rebuilding of the city's medieval ship.

The 1,700 timbers from the vessel, discovered in the banks of the Usk last July, are currently in water storage.

But massive funding is needed to start the long process of recording, cleaning and eventually rebuilding the ship, which has stunned maritime experts and historians the world over.

Artefacts found on and around the ship during its excavation have left experts in little doubt that it was manned by a Portuguese crew during Portugal's golden age of discovery before they were captured, probably by pirates, and brought to Newport.

Yesterday, the Argus revealed how the ship could have been built by the Vikings.

One of the world's top authorities on medieval ships, Francisco Alves - director of the Portuguese underwater archaeological institute known as Centro Nacional de Arqueologia Nautica (CNANS) - revealed: "There is plenty of evidence that your ship had a regular relationship with the Portuguese coast, and it was definitely big enough to be an Atlantic voyager.

"But in terms of construction your ship is much closer to the northern Viking tradition than those of southern Europe.

"Since the ninth century we have evidence of Viking piracy and records of Viking invasions, such as the invasion of southern Portugal by Vikings in 966 AD."

From 1415, with the conquest of Ceuta, on the North African coast, and an expedition to the Canary Islands, the Portuguese put to sea, driven by the greed for power and adventure.

Portuguese experts say the Newport ship provides hard evidence that Portugal was building knowledge for the rest of the world, using its own technology to establish its nation on four continents.

Eventually the ship is thought to have fallen into the ownership of Richard Neville, the Earl of Warwick, and records suggest it was brought to Newport for repairs - but what happened to it next remains a mystery. The past may still be under investigation, but the future of Newport's ship is assured.

The city's museums and heritage officer, Mike Lewis, plans to put together a preservation strategy early this year, and then open it up to consultation at a seminar of experts in February.

The document will then be used to attract funding from appropriate bodies - cash that will initially be spent on cleaning and preserving about 10 per cent of the timbers, in order to gain an idea of how long the entire project will take to complete.

Mr Lewis said: "This document will be our roadmap, setting out how best to gather and use money and resources for everything leading up to the display of the ship.

"Some of the larger timbers could take about three years to treat, so at present it's hard to assess how long it will all take.

"We know there are examples around the world of similar projects taking over 30 years, but we intend to buy into some of the latest technology to save time.

"The traditional method of rebuilding such a ship is to draw everything by hand first, but we hope to use computer-aided design to help us."

The involvement and ownership of the public will be key to the project, according to Mr Lewis, who is committed to opening up the storage site to the public in the future.

"Anyone who funds us will want to know what strategies are in place for public participation, and we intend to make that central to the process. "Everyone will have a different opinion on this. It's up to us to listen and consult, and move forward with the best agreed plan."

Bob Trett, who was chairman of the Gwent and Glamorgan Archaeological Trust when the body excavated the ship, said: "This is a very positive move. I welcome the council's recognition that it must work with others, including the Friends of the Ship. I recommend the council widens its net of experts as much as possible."