The Götheborg III

[luzula]

This summer I went on a guided tour of the Götheborg III, which is by its own claim the world's largest ocean-going wooden ship! I've meant to write it up for months, and here you go. It is a modern-day replica of the Götheborg I, belonging to the Swedish East India Company, which foundered just outside Gothenburg harbour in 1745 on its return from China. Nobody died and a lot of the cargo could be salvaged. Apparently it's still quite a mystery why it foundered, since it had an experienced pilot on board.

The wooden parts, cordage, etc, were made with as close to 18th century techniques they could get, but there's a lot of modern stuff inside it as well, such as engines etc, for safety reasons. Some photos:








The flag she's flying is the two-tailed flag of the Swedish East India Company, by design very similar to the three-tailed flag of the Swedish navy, to discourage privateers. Wikipedia tells me that this was against the rules at the time, and in 1751 a royal decree told them to stop, but apparently they kept doing it anyway.

Comments

[james]

Ooh, so pretty!

[luzula]

I bet she's even prettier with the sails set, but alas, I didn't get to see that!

[sylvanwitch]

Fabulous! I find one of my favorite parts of touring a wooden ship is that smell of hemp rope and tar. It’s just so evocative!

[luzula]

Yes! There's actually a rope-making museum north of Gothenburg which I plan to go to eventually.

[sanguinity]

Oh, lovely! I see pictures of her on tumblr quite frequently, and of course there was the whole thing this summer when she rescued a sailboat, which everyone was very excited about it. So cool that you got to tour her!

I gather that she doesn't do daysails at all? Is she staying in Sweden for good, or are there more expeditions scheduled for 2024, do you know? I don't see anything about her future plans on the website.

[luzula]

I should have known you would already have heard of her! : ) Yes, I saw the thing with the rescue of the sailboat.

No, she doesn't do daysails, and as you say, there are no expeditions scheduled for 2024. I gathered during the guided tour that there are some financial issues which the current owners are trying to solve...

I am thinking of perhaps going on a daysail with this schooner, but of course she's a much younger ship, built in 1922. (ETA: Er, not actually younger, of course, but a younger type of ship.)

[isis]

Oh, so cool!

[luzula]

Yes! She was in harbour the whole summer, for the celebration of Gothenburg's 400 year anniversary.

[dolorosa_12]

Oh wow, what a cool thing to have done!

[luzula]

It was! Much cooler if we had gone out to sea, of course, but you can't have everything.

[regshoe]

Oh, how cool! It must add a lot to the experience of reading books like Hornblower to see a real ship up close like that. That picture of the gun deck, with the table with bowls and cups on it in the foreground, is especially atmospheric, and I like the blue-and-yellow decoration.

[luzula]

Yes! It really does, although I imagine it's very different when it's stuffed full of people, as it must have been back then. It would be cool to understand all the different functions of the ropes in the rigging...guided tours never go into that sort of detail.

[sage]

very cool!

[luzula]

It was! She was in harbour the whole summer, for the celebration of Gothenburg's 400 year anniversary.

[seascribble]

Oh some people I follow on tumblr are very into her! Great photos and write up

[luzula]

Hee, I'm glad to hear that she has tumblr fans! Glad you enjoyed. : )

[mergatrude]

Oh, lovely. I've seen pics of her under sail on tumblr recently and she's quite beautiful.

I've been on a short trip on a schooner and once I got over my initial seasickness it was so much fun.

[luzula]

Everybody has seen her on tumblr, hee!

My family has a sailing boat and I grew up sailing in the summers, so I'm rarely seasick. But then, I'm not usually inside the boat while we're sailing it--I probably could be seasick then.

[chestnut_pod]

Ooh, fun! I've always enjoyed visiting the Cutty Sark, and this seems even grander!

[luzula]

enjoyed visiting the Cutty Sark
I enjoyed that too when I was in London! Yes, this was grander, although sadly I didn't get to climb in the rigging...