German schooner Grossherzogin Elisabeth in Øresund

Yesterday afternoon the German 3-mast schooner Großherzogin Elisabeth looked great when it was sailing northwards in Øresund.

Grossherzogin Elisabeth  approaching Helsingør.



A backlight image of "Lissi", just before Kronborg castle.

A Grand Duchess and Hamlet's Kronborg castle.



Sailing northwards in the Sound.

 

The 63.70 m x 8.23 m "Lissi", as she is amicably called, has an interesting history:

built on order of the Dutch shipowner Andreas Hammerstein at the shipyard
of Jan Smit in Alblasserdam as 3-masted schooner with collapsible masts
and auxiliary engine, launched on August 19th, 1909 and christened the
"San Antonio".

used between 1910 and 1913 as freighter to the Mediterranean, South America
and in the North and Baltic Sea.

run aground on January 25th, 1914 at the coast of Morocco near Rabat,
however she came free with the help of her machine.

capsize in winter 1929 with a timber cargo load next to Copenhagen, she
could be salvaged and get on the road again.

1936 converted to a motor coaster with a new engine and an auxiliary rig

at outbreak of the war the owner flew on board the ship to England,
since 1940 she has been to transport evacuees and for reinforcements
in the allied convoys.

1947 sold to Swedish owners, renamed the "Buddi", used as supplyer
for Swedish towns on the coasts following several changes of the owner
and the renaming to "Santoni".

bought by captain Hartmut Paschburg from Hamburg in August 1973, she was
in a poor and neglected condition, rebuilt at the shipyard van Kroosz in
Wischhaven and the shipyard in Stade, conversion to a 3-masted schooner
for cruising the Mediterranean and Caribbean, renamed the "Ariadne",
has been used as sailing cruiser until autumn 1981.

found by shipowner and captain Horst Werner Janssen from Elsfleth/GER
in the port of Pireßs in October 1981, who chartered the ship and
transported her to Elsfleth, in January 1982 the organization "Schulschiffverein
Großherzogin Elisabeth" e.V. was founded, renaming of the ship to
"Großherzogin Elisabeth" after a former sailing schoolship based in the
town (the today's "Duchesse Anne").

in June 1983 the administrative district Wesermarsch bought her with the
finacial help of the federal state Niedersachsen and the town Elsfleth,
used for educational voyages in the North Sea and Baltic Sea and as a
as a floating boarding school for young seamen in winter time in the
following years.

1993 a heavy fire caused by welding during a overhaul in the shipyard of
Elsfleth damaged the ship, with great commitment of the Schulschiffverein
and other sponsors these damages could be repaired, she became the
property of the Schulschiffverein "Großherzogin Elisabeth".