MORE than 100 seamen marched into history at the weekend when the Royal Navy's last steamship said its final farewell to its adopted port.

HMS Fearless is being paid off from the Royal Navy next month, after almost 40 years of action-packed service that has taken her to some of the world's most notorious areas of conflict.

For the past 12 years, Fearless has been the adopted ship of Scarborough, visiting the North Yorkshire resort regularly and making strong ties between the crew and the local community.

But after an emotionally-charged ceremony on Saturday, she sailed out of the port for the last time.

Before she sailed, the crew exercised their freedom of the town by marching through the streets, led by the band of the Royal Marines.

On the steps of the town hall the ship's captain, Commander Brian Warren, presented Mayor Sheila Kettlewell with the Fearless's bell and battle honours board.

Over the year's, the bell has been used as a font for the baptism of many of the crew's children and is inscribed with the names of 120 of them.

Fearless has served all over the world, in her primary role as an assault ship and has also seen service as a training ship in Dartmouth.

She was involved in the Aden crisis, in the Middle East, and later in the Falklands War, leading the way into San Carlos Water as the command ship for the amphibious task force. The initial surrender negotiations were conducted on board.

She even appeared in a James Bond film, rescuing Roger Moore and Russian counterpart Barbara Bach, in The Spy Who Loved Me.

A variety of activities took place as Scarborough said farewell to the vessel, and Coun Kettlewell said the entire weekend had been "tinged with sadness".

She said: "Fearless has been an excellent adopted warship for Scarborough and the weekend was a wonderful opportunity to say thank-you and bon voyage."