Built as training school ship for young cadets by the Höivolds Motor mek. Verksted A/S Kristiansand S for the Sørlandets Seilende Skoleskibs Institution, Kristiansand S, Norway.
Launched under the name SØRLANDET (Southland)
Tonnage 577 gross, 292 net, dim. 65.0 x 9.60 x 4.8m., length bpp. 52.3m.
Ship rigged, sail area 1.000 m².
Accommodation for 85 cadets, and 11 crew.
1927 Completed.
The original capital was a legacy of 25.000 Pounds Sterling established by shipowner O.A.T. Skjelbred, and original she did not have an engine.
On her maiden voyage to Oslo in 1927, HM King Haakon and Crown Prince Olav inspected SØRLANDET.
Later that year she sailed to London with on board 90 young boys.
One of her highlights was the cruise to the World Fair in Chicago in 1933. Being the first Norwegian training ship to cross the Atlantic, she actually served as the Norwegian pavilion during the exhibition “A Century in Progress”.
When World War II broke out the Norway Navy requisitioned her. After the occupation by German troops the SØRLANDET was seized by the German troops in Horten.
1942 Towed to Kirkenes, where she was used as military prison. During an airraid by Allied planes was she damaged just above the waterline, thereafter she sank.
Refloated by the Germans and towed to Kristiansand, where she was used as an accommodation vessel for German submariners. Her masts were removed and a large accommodation block placed on deck.
After the war handed back to owners, but in a bad state, she was restored to her old state, and she was ready to sail in 1948.
Not until 1958 was she equipped with a Peter MacLarsen dieselengine of 240hp. one screw.
In 1974 she was not longer used as a public training vessel and sold to shipowner Staubo. She became registered in Arendal and laid up at Kilsund at anchor for three years. She deteriorated considerably in these years.
In 1977 was she bought back by Kristiansand shipowner Skjelbred.
From 1981 is she owned by the non-profit foundation “Stiftelsen Fullriggeren Sørlandet”.
From 1980 to 1983 was the SØRLANDET the only operative Norwegian sail training ship, and at that time the open cruises for both sexes, all ages and nationalities, started.
She crossed the Atlantic four times in 1981. In addition she was engaged in a film shoot in New York and performed several cruises between Bermuda and Boston.
The most common way of utilizing the vessel in the following years became two-week North Sea cruises. However in 1982 SØRLANDET hosted the exhibition “Women of the coast” whilst visiting some 60-seaside places along the Norwegian coast the entire way up north to Kirkenes. A total of 83.000 people visited SØRLANDET during this tour.
In 1986 once again crossed the Atlantic to take part in the 100th Anniversary of the Statue of Liberty in New York. In late summer of the years 1986-1988 about 500 cadets from the Royal Norwegian Navy got their first life-at-sea experience, through six-week courses of sailing and training on board the SØRLANDET. In recent years, towards the SØRLANDET 70th Anniversary in 1997 she worked closely in co-operation with the Royal Norwegian Navy, Norwegian Shipowners Association and the local public Employment Office, doing six-week courses in sailing and general seamanship in order to strengthen the recruitment of seafarers.
During the winter of 1995/96 she performed a series of cruises in the tropical waters of Caribbean.
Winter sailing in Caribbean waters and cruises in home waters in the summer seem to be a new challenge for the SØRLANDET.
According to the IMO-rules of the 1969 convention the SØRLANDET is now 499 gross. She is well equipped with air-condition both on the orlop deck and crew cabins. Otherwise she is in her original condition.
I think her engine has been replace, the website gives that she has now a 560 hp engine, and gives her a speed of 8 knots in calm weather. Against the wind the speed is reduced considerably.
It is seldom you achieve higher speed by engine compared to sailing. That is one reason why sailing is preferred most of the time with the SØRLANDET.
She is now used mostly with paying guests in search for a different holiday.
Norway 2005 9.50Kr sg?, scott?
Niger 2020 800f sg?, scott?
Source: mostly copied from http://www.fullriggeren-sorlandet.no . De laatste Grote Zeilschepen by O. Schäuffelen. Lloyds Register 1955/56.