The hotel ship Barken Viking

1 October 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: Tall ships, Hotels, Yacht of the Month Reading Time:  6 minutes

Barken Viking © Pär Henning

Barken Viking © Pär Henning

The Viking (better known by the ship type as a prefix, Barken Viking) is a four-masted steel barque, built in 1906 by Burmeister & Wain in Copenhagen, Denmark. She is reported to be the biggest sailing ship ever built in Scandinavia. Viking was originally built as a sail training ship for the rapidly growing Danish merchant fleet. At that time, seaworthiness and cargo capacity were given top priority. One day in July 1909, while carrying a full cargo of wheat from Australia, Captain Niels Clausen recorded a speed record in the ship’s log: 15.5 knots (28.7 km/h; 17.8 mph).   read more…

The Russian sail training ship Kruzenshtern

1 March 2012 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: Tall ships, Yacht of the Month Reading Time:  5 minutes

Sail Amsterdam 2005 © Dirk van der Made

Sail Amsterdam 2005 © Dirk van der Made

The Kruzenshtern or Krusenstern is a four masted barque and tall ship that was built in 1926 at Geestemünde in Bremerhaven, Germany as the Padua (named after the Italian city). She was surrendered to the USSR in 1946 as war reparation and renamed after the early 19th century Baltic German explorer in Russian service, Adam Johann Krusenstern (1770–1846). She is now a Russian Navy sail training ship. Of the four remaining Flying P-Liners, the former Padua is the only one still in use, mainly for training purposes, with her home ports in Kaliningrad (formerly Königsberg) and Murmansk. After the Sedov, another former German ship, she is the largest traditional sailing vessel still in operation.   read more…

Return to TopReturn to Top