| Dar Pomorza |
ex „Prinzess Eitel Friedrich”, „Colbert”, „Pomorze”
From the archives of Gdynia City Hall
Specifications: A three-masted full-rigged ship Launched: 1909, Bohm & Voss, Hamburg, Germany Owner: The Polish Maritime Museum, Gdańsk Length with bowsprit: 91.0 m Beam: 12.6 m Draught: 5.7 m Mainmast height: 41.1 m Sail surface: 2,100 m2 Top speed under sail: 17 kt Auxiliary engine: MAN 430 hp Engine-supported speed: 7 kt 2 decks Permanent crew: 39, including 12 officers Trainees: 150 Poland without its own coast and fleet will never be united, or independent, or economically and politically autonomous, or respected in the great family of countries and nations, or able to provide decent standards of living, working, development or welfare for its citizens". Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski (Polish minister of Trade and Industry) – Dar Pomorza, 13 August 1930 /commemorative book/ "Damn it! It's a ship of gold! Buy it quickly, it's a bargain." In such an unconventional way Konstanty Maciejewicz, the captain of Lwów, a run-down ship of the Tczew Maritime School, persuaded a representative of the Pomeranian Committee of National Fleet to buy her successor. The trade took place in Saint Nazaire harbour basin, and the object of purchase was an old German three-masted ship, for eleven years mooring idly there, that is to say a ship with a past. However, in spite of the grime she was covered with, her condition was not bad, and her past interesting. It was on 28 September 1909. In a small Hamburg hotel called Atlantik, the Empire's elite gathered at a banquet given out to celebrate the launching of a full-rigged ship built by the Blohm & Voss Shipyard for the German Association of Training Ships. The sailing ship was named Prinzess Eitel Friedrich, after Emperor William II's daughter-in-law. The ship was beautiful, modern and safe. The ship was presented with a diesel power generator by the Emperor himself, and electric navigation lights, the lighting of the chart-room and the crew's quarters by Berlin Siemens Company. The watertight bulkheads were made with a margin used in big passenger vessels, and the hulk was adapted to sail amidst ice. Until the outbreak of World War I, Prinzess Eitel Friedrich sailed as a training ship, setting records in crossing the Atlantic. During the war, lying off the port of Kiel, the ship served as a vessel for training cadets, also for the navy cadets; after the war, she was given to France as part of war reparations, and re-named Colbert, but was kept "on leash", i.e. it was moored in Saint Nazaire. She was still standing there when Poles found her, and bought for a reasonable price; then she was re-named again, this time Pomorze, and moved to the Danish shipyard Nakskov for complete overhaul. In the meantime, people in Poland were seething with indignation. The purchase of a sailing ship was considered to be the ultimate in incompetence, and press articles spread a picture of throwing public money down the drain (part of the money came from contributions made by the citizens of Pomerania Region and the city of Bydgoszcz). The change of name was also widely discussed, and the atmosphere got even worse when information spread that the ship (who was to start her service and add splendour to the celebration of the 10th anniversary of Poland's symbolic wedding to the sea and the opening of Gdynia Maritime School's new building) was towed through the Bay of Biscay and the English Channel without sails and yards, in dramatic wintery weather conditions, which almost ended up with crashing on the rocks. A beautiful, white full-rigged ship with a new name Dar Pomorza (which means "a gift of Pomerania") sailed into Gdynia in the atmosphere of distrust and dislike, but when on a sunny Sunday of 13 July 1930, in the President's Basin, she was taking over the sea watch from the old Lwów, she possessed the hearts and minds of over 100,000 people who came from all over the country to attend the ceremony. During the commissioning ceremony, a ceremonial flag, embroidered in silver and gold thread and adorned with precious stones – a gift from Pomeranian women – was hoisted, on behalf of the President of Poland, by Minister of Trade and Industry Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski together with the first captain of Dar Pomorza Konstanty Maciejewicz, accompanied by the ships' godmother, Maria Janta-Połczyńska. "A Polish Beauty", "Princess of the Oceans", "Sea Swan", White-winged", "White Frigate" were the nicknames given to Dar Pomorza in the following years, and the ship tried to live up to the Polish white-and-red flag, which made it possible for the old ship to be re-born again and which was carried for the first time together with the Polish Maritime School students across the seas and oceans. She was the first Polish ship to circumnavigate the globe (in 1934-35), and rounded Cape Horn in 1937, remaining the Poland's only Capehorner for nearly 40 years. It was during World War II that Dar Pomorza went on her longest voyage: she set off in 1939, and although she moored in nearby Stockholm, she did not return to Gdynia until November 1945. Then she started her long service, teaching marine craft to future officers of Polish merchant fleet during training voyages through the North Sea and the English Channel, to the Bay of Biscay and the Mediterranean Sea. For more than fifty years, 13.911 students of maritime schools in Gdynia and Szczecin learned their job on Dar Pomorza. She made 105 voyages, covering the distance of 509,804 nautical miles, calling at 126 ports (at some of them more than once) on all the continents except the Antarctic. Apart from training successes, Dar Pomorza was successful in sport as well. In 1972 she participated for the first time in international tall ships' races organised by the British Sail Training Association. Starting as a novice, she finished the races as a winner after a dramatic struggle. From then on she participated in all the Cutty Sark Tall Ships' Races, always evoking admiration for her beauty and maintenance, for her crew so presentable, but first of all for the style and quality of sailing skills. In 1980 she won the Races again, receiving the main prize – the Cutty Sark Trophy, a replica of the famous clipper Cutty Sark. During her numerous voyages all over the world, Dar Pomorza was also a "sailing ambassador", playing host to monarchs and high-ranking officials, and reconciling generations of Poles living in all parts of the world. It was a rainy Sunday of 4 July 1982. Behind the stern of Dar Pomorza, who was facing the land, a new tall ship stood facing the sea. It was Dar Młodzieży, the third sailing ship in the relay race of history. Dar Pomorza handed over the sea watch to her, together with her last captain, Tadeusz Olechnowicz MM. She also said goodbye to her owner, i.e. Gdynia Maritime Academy. Handed over to the Polish Maritime Museum in 1982, Dar Pomorza started her new service as a museum. The captains of Dar Pomorza: Konstatnty Maciejewicz MM,"Macaj" – the captain of captains 1930-1938 Konstanty Kowalski MM, "Kot" 1938 – 1939 Alojzy Kwiatkowski, "Diadia" – radio officer, acting as Captain 1939-1945 Stefan Gorazdowski MM, 1946 – 1952 Kazimierz Jurkiewicz MM, 1953 – 1977 Tadeusz Olechnowicz MM, 1977 – 1982; the last captain of Dar Pomorza, and the first captain of Dar Młodzieży
Dar Pomorza | Dar Młodzieży | Pogoria | Iskra I | Iskra II | Zawisza Czarny I | Zawisza Czarny II | Lwów | Elemka |
