Eye of the Wind

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shipstamps
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Joined: Fri Mar 13, 2009 8:12 pm

Eye of the Wind

Post by shipstamps » Tue Mar 31, 2009 3:37 pm

Eye of The Wind, originally named "Friedrich" was built in 1911 as a topsail schooner by Conrad Luhring of Brake Unterweser, Germany. She was constructed for the South American hide trade, a lucrative venture at that time.
In 1923, she was sold to a Swedish operator and renamed "Merry". For the next 50 years she traded under the Swedish flag in the Baltic and North Seas, carrying general cargo. During the summer months she was employed drifting for herring off the coast of Iceland.
It was not until 1926 that her first engine was installed. Over subsequent years her rig was gradually reduced; first her yards were removed, followed by the topmasts. Later the cargo hatches were re-arranged and the rig changed to that of a ketch. When cargo rates were high, during the 1950s she became a virtual motor-sailer and was lucky to escape lengthening of the hull, a common practice at this time, used to increase cargo space. In 1956 much of the bottom of the hull was replaced with a sturdy welded steel construction.
In 1969, in Gothenburg, Sweden, a fire broke out in the engine room, completely destroying the wheelhouse and the timber poop deck. It seemed that her life as a working vessel had come to an end. Fortunately for the old ship, about this time, a group of square-rigger enthusiasts were forming plans to re-build a suitable hull as an ocean going Tall Ship. Finally, in 1973, a deal was reached with the owners of the burnt out hulk and then began the daunting task of rescuing the old iron hull.
The first stage of the renovation was to make "Merry" sufficiently seaworthy to sail to England where it was planned to carry out the bulk of the re-building.
The Skandia, air-start, two-stroke diesel engine was completely re-built. Surprisingly, parts for this old engine where comparatively easy to obtain. The wooden poop deck was replaced with locally reclaimed timber. Areas of shell plating buckled by the fire were replaced with welded steel, as was the hole in "Merry's" bow. Worm steering gear was fitted and temporary 24 volt electrics were installed to provide basic lighting and navigation facilities. After six months, with ballast made up of ten tons of Gothenburg granite cobblestones, "Merry" was ready to make the passage across the North Sea to England where work on the superstructure and rig was to be carried out.
After several months lying in the historic Humber fishing port of Grimsby, a suitable fitting out berth was found in Faversham, Kent.
The owners and many friends came together at Easter in 1974 to begin the restoration. Slowly, a fine Brigantine began to evolve. Finally, in September 1975 the now re-named vessel was ready to sail from the Faversham mud berth, down the river Swale, into the Thames estuary, along the Kent coast, to Ramsgate where she was to be prepared for her first real voyage for more than 10 years.
Thus began the long and fruitful sailing career of Eye of the Wind.
It was decided that the first voyage would be a circumnavigation of the globe and on 12 October 1975 Eye of The Wind set sail from Ramsgate. The 11-month voyage proved the seaworthiness of the re-fitted Eye of The Wind. She performed well in both light airs and strong blows, averaging more than 100 miles per day on the 18,000-mile passage. The crew of 26, made up of the owners and paying crew, found it all-to-easy to fall under the spell of this tall, gracious little ship with the wind-song in the rigging and bow wash along the hull.
She finally returned to England, arriving in Plymouth in May 1978.By the time Eye of The Wind returned from her first circumnavigation in May 1978, it had been decided that she would become the flagship for Operation Drake, a two year round the World expedition involving 414 "Young Explorers" from 27 countries.
Patroned by HRH The Prince of Wales, Operation Drake undertook many scientific and cultural projects during its nine phases. The full story of Operation Drake can be found in the book "In The Eye of The Wind; The story of Operation Drake", by Roger Chapman, one of the "Young Explorers".
With Operation Drake successfully completed, the owners of Eye of The Wind decided to continue their programme of improvements to the vessel. In 1980, they had discovered an old wooden decked minesweeper being broken for scrap. They struck a deal for the 2 inch (50mm) thick soraya (a type of teak) decking and after removing it from the minesweeper themselves, fitted the planking to the deck of Eye of The Wind. This one project made an enormous difference to the look of the vessel and vastly improved the comfort and safety of working on deck compared with the original iron plating.
From April 1983 until October 1991, Eye of The Wind sailed the Pacific Ocean (with the odd foray westward to the fringes of the Indian Ocean), using Sydney, Australia as her home base. The first of these voyages found Eye visiting Lord Howe Island, North Island New Zealand, the Austral Islands, Tahiti and the Society group of islands, Tonga, Vanuatu, the Solomon's and Papua New Guinea, before returning to Sydney in time for Christmas 1983.As a result of the mid-Atlantic sinking of the sail training vessel "Marques", the UK Department of Transport had decided to apply new stability regulations to the operation of British registered Sail Training Vessels. Eye was taken to Sydney, and a team of naval architects employed to assess the problem. Eventually, it was decided that Eye would have to be re-ballasted.
With the original 70 tons of concrete railway sleepers, granite cobblestones and blue metal chippings removed, the inside of the hull was cleaned and painted and the ballast replaced with 80 tons of lead, pig iron and railway line. With the new ballast secured, Eye of The Wind was found to comfortably exceed the new stability requirement.
After six months gruelling work, but with her future assured, Eye of The Wind set sail once more. Bound once again for Perth, this time to join up with the "First Fleet re-enactment" vessels as they sailed from England to Australia, thus re-creating the first convoy of ships carrying convicts to Australia.
On October 7, 1991, Eye of The Wind, in convoy with the sail training vessel "Soren Larsen" bade Sydney farewell and began her most adventurous voyage ever, "Homeward Round the Horn". After a brief stop in Auckland, New Zealand to re-provision, the two vessels sailed eastward across the great Southern Ocean and at 09:43 on Dec 10, 1991 rounded Cape Horn in uncharacteristically calm conditions.
Sailing northward via the Falkland Islands, Montevideo, Tristan da Cunha, St Helena, Ascension Island and the Azores, Eye of The Wind and Soren Larsen arrived in Lisbon, Portugal at the beginning of April 1992.
Lisbon was to be the starting point for the Columbus Quincentenary voyage, celebrating the discovery of the "New World" by Christopher Columbus in 1492. On 24 April 1992, the 20th century's largest fleet of tall ships, set sail from Lisbon, via Cadiz (the departure point for Columbus) westward across the Atlantic. In early June, the fleet began to arrive in San Juan, Puerto Rico to a tumultuous welcome. Leaving the Caribbean, the fleet sailed north to New York and Boston before re-crossing the Atlantic completing the epic voyage in Liverpool, England in early August 92.
After taking part in many of the "Tall Ship" races, in October 1999, Eye of The Wind once again entered the dry-dock in Gloucester, England, this time to undergo modifications to comply with the newly formed "Maritime and Coastguard Agency" regulations for the operation of large sailing vessels engaged in any form of charter work.

Sporting her new survey status, valid for five years, Eye of The Wind set sail from Gloucester on 09 March 2000 bound for Southampton, to meet up with the "Tall Ships 2000" regatta fleet.
In September 2000, Eye of The Wind completed a three month charter with the Canadian organisation, Tall Ship Millennium Challenge, carrying groups of young Canadians' on each of the sectors of the Tall Ships 2000 voyage.
In May 2001, following a winter season cruising the Caribbean, Eye of The Wind arrived to a shipyard in Denmark for handover to her new owners.

The vessel is now carrying out luxury charters.

Technical Specification
Ship: Eye of the Wind
Type of ship: Tall Ship
Built: 1911
Length: 40.2 metres
Beam: 7 metres
Draught: 2.8 metres
Tonnage (GRT): 150
Sail area: 750 sq metres
Guest capacity under sail: 30

http://www.eyeofthewind.net/

Jersey SG238, Cocos (Keeling Is)SG58/61.Ascension SG574 Falkland Is SG643Tristan SG522
Attachments
SG574
SG574
SG643
SG643
SG522
SG522
SG238
SG238
SG243
SG243
SG58
SG58

aukepalmhof
Posts: 7771
Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2009 1:28 am

Re: Eye of the Wind

Post by aukepalmhof » Thu Feb 18, 2010 8:41 pm

It looks her early history is not correct as given on the web-site above.

Eye of The Wind, originally named FRIEDRICH was built in 1911 under yard No 115 as a steel hulled topsail schooner by Conrad Luhring of Brake Unterweser, Germany, for J.F.Kolbe, a captain owner.
Tonnage 149 grt, 95 net, 240 dwt., dim. 31.63 x 7.04 x 3.04m.
1911 completed.

She was constructed for the South American hide trade, a lucrative venture at that time, mostly with salt from Hamburg to Argentine, then hides back to Cornwall, after discharging she loaded china clay for Germany in a south England port.

1931 Was she owned by J.H.L. Winter, (also her captain) Hamburg and renamed ADELE. At that time she was powered by a oil engine of 46 nhp., manufactured by Neufeldt & Kuhnke G.m.b.H, Kiel.
1936 Was she owned by W. Schneider, Hamburg and renamed KATHARINA.
Before World War II sold to Fritz Heinrich Pott, Hamburg and renamed FRIEDA.
Can not find when she was sold to Swedish owners, but Lloyds gives her till 1945 under the name FRIEDA.

Most probably sold during the war or shortly thereafter, when she was renamed SAM.
1955 Was she owned by N.A. Carlson, Stockevik, renamed MERRY. At that time she did have a 2-cyl.oil engine manufactured by Skandiaverken A/B, Lysekil, Sweden.

Thereafter she carried the names of ROSE MARIE from 1956, and then again MERRY from 1967.
2009 Was her owner Forum Train & Sail GmbH, same name.
2013 Same owners and name in service.
http://www.eyeofthewind.net/en/ship/history

Jersey 2013 68p sg?, scott?
Niue 1996 $2 sg 805, scott 682

Source : Lloyds Registers.
Attachments
tmp106.jpg
tmp343.jpg
1996_EYE OF THE WIND  STV (2).jpg
Last edited by aukepalmhof on Fri Jun 23, 2017 12:02 am, edited 3 times in total.

mithunt
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Dec 14, 2010 12:21 pm

Re: Eye of the Wind

Post by mithunt » Tue Dec 14, 2010 12:25 pm

Thanks for sharing :roll:


Recycled timber

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