Dar Pomorza at Remontowa Shiprepair Yard SA again [VIDEO]

Dar Pomorza, one of the biggest tourist attractions of Tri-City, will undergo renovation in Remontowa Shiprepair Yard S.A. from the capital group Remontowa Holding. Today, the sailing ship left its previous place at the Pomeranian Quay in Gdynia and was towed to the shipyard.

Production: Marcin Koszałka, Maciej Bielesz/PORTALMORSKI.PL

The tender for the repair was announced in August this year. The National Maritime Museum in Gdańsk, which has been taking care of the sailing ship since 1982 and making its deck available to over 100 thousand visitors annually. You can learn about the history of the ship, its equipment, rooms, as well as the crew and officers. In one of the cabins are collected, for example, memorabilia from the house of Karol Borchardt, a writer and sailor, who in 1938-39 served on the gift of Pomerania as a senior officer. One of his most popular books is “Znaczy Kapitan”, a colourful collection of short stories in which the title character is the captain of the great sailing Mamert Stankiewicz.

Now, the Dar Pomorza, in order to extend for the next few years the documents allowing the vessel to function as a floating object-museum, and in order to serve tourists and residents of the Tri-City, must undergo a renovation.

Remontowa Shiprepair Yard SA, which has been cooperating with the National Maritime Museum in Gdańsk for many years, has been chosen for this task. It has also adapted Sołdek, a coal ore carrier which has been serving residents and tourists visiting the city for over 30 years at the Ołowianka embankment, to museum purposes.

The most important tasks of the shipyard will include: washing and painting of the hull, inspection of the underwater part, inspection of the rivets on the hull, measurements of structural plates, inspection of the propeller, inspection and maintenance of the rigging, replacement of plating plates if they are rusty, maintenance of lifeboats, as well as repair of the fire-fighting system and monitoring system.

This is not the first visit of Dar Pomorza to the shipyard of the Remontowa Holding Capital Group. Let us remind you that in 2003, after almost 30 years, the frigate was towed to the shipyard for technical inspection and bottom maintenance. The ship, as it turned out after the underwater inspection of the hull, was in good technical condition, cleaned of algae and crustaceans, and then painted.

The ship-museum appeared in Remontowa Shiprepair Yard S.A. also in 2008. At that time it underwent class repairs in accordance with safety requirements, which took place every few years. The deck was painted superstructures, the starboard side and the lifeboats were renovated.

The history of the “Gift of Pomerania”

Dar Pomorza was built in 1909 in the shipyard Blohm & Voss in Hamburg as a training ship of the German merchant navy. Under the name Prinzess Eitel Friedrich set sail on his maiden voyage in September 1909.

After the defeat of Germany in World War I, the ship was taken over by the French. In 1926 it was given a new name Colbert and was initially to replace the French school sailing ship Richelieu, but the plan did not come into effect. A year later the frigate was taken over by Baron de Foreste, who intended to transform it into an oceanic yacht. This idea was not realized either.

In 1929 the ship was bought by the Pomeranian National Fleet Committee for £7,000 in social donations. It was to replace the already well-deserved school barge of Lviv. The frigate was then given another name, Dar Pomorza, to commemorate the generosity of the Pomeranian society. In June 1930, for the first time in the Gdynia roadstead, and on 13 July, bishop St. Okoniewski consecrated the ship and its flag. The frigate was given to the State Maritime School in Gdynia and from now on it became the second (after Lviv) “cradle of Polish navigators”.

During 51 years of service for the Polish Commercial Navy, Dar Pomorza made 102 school cruises, staying half a million nautical miles. On board, 13 384 students of the Maritime School were trained.

The sailing ship was withdrawn from service on 4 August 1982, and a few months later, on 16 November, it was handed over to the National Maritime Museum in Gdańsk.

Agnieszka Latarska, rel (NMM in Gdańsk)

Photo: Marcin Koszałka, Agnieszka Latarska.