Earl György Festetics, founder of Georgikon, the first steward training college in Central Europe, built numerous ships on Lake Balaton. The most famous one of them, the biggest sailing ship was the PHOENIX which was launched in 1797. She soon became one of Lake Balaton’s remarkable sights famed by numerous poets.
According to the contemporary papers the ship was given the name PHOENIX by Earl Festetics in memory of the brother of a palatine archduke, the Earl’s guest who died in a fire. In the world of legends the phoenix bird revives from its ashes. The contemporary reporters wrote the following about the sailing ship itself. “The ship floats so lightly that although it is more that fifteen fathoms long, more than four fathoms wide and there were more than three hundred people standing aboard it sank only two feet deep in the water”. On weekdays the PHOENIX transported salt and on its way back carried excellent Balaton-region wines.
Hungary 1999 79Ft sg4422, scott?
Source: Hungarian Post leaflet.