At more than 90 years old, a Danish sail training tall ship is to be open to visitors during its call to the Dublin Docklands today and tomorrow, writes Jehan Ashmore.
The Class A tall ship Georg Stage, with its timber decks and polished brass fittings, is the world's oldest civilian training ship and a role model for many other ships. It had sailed from Scheveningen, in the Netherlands, and took anchorage in Dublin Bay at the weekend, as previously reported, before making its arrival at Dublin Port yesterday.
It is operated by the Georg Stage Memorial Foundation, based at its homeport of Copenhagen, and was built in 1934 at Frederikshavn. The fully rigged three-masted vessel measures just over 42 meters in length with a mast height of 22.86 meters.
In addition, Georg Stage is the world's only independent training ship because it does not belong to a land-based school like other training ships and is sailed by 63 young trainees and a permanent crew of 12. Prior to its Irish call, the trainees took part in a coastal introductory sail around Denmark, involving the transit of the Kiel Canal in Germany.
Heading upriver, the 92-year-old Georg Stage, with its launch mounted above the stern, is on a visit to the capital this week
The 42m long tallship is also among the few that took part in the inaugural Tall Ships’ Race of 1956 and the 50th anniversary race in 2006, and many others in between, and participated in the Dublin Docklands Festival of the last decade.
The veteran vessel continues to serve as a practical training platform for young people pursuing careers at sea, where the trainees are dressed in attire more akin to naval cadets.
They, along with the crew, will welcome visitors to board the veteran vessel at its south Liffey bank berth along Sir John Rogerson’s Quay between 1800-2000hrs today and the same time tomorrow evening.
The origins of the foundation stem from the first school ship, also named Georg Stage, having been the idea of its shipowner, Frederik Stage, to build what was a smaller training ship in the Danish capital in the late 19th century because the merchant navy lacked good sailors.
Frederik and his wife, Thea, named the vessel in memory of their son, Georg, who died of tuberculosis in 1880 at the age of just 23. Two years later, the 'Georg Stage Memorial' foundation and the training ship, named after his son, became a reality.
This first school ship was replaced in 1934, when the current ship was built for the foundation's purpose, which remains the same today: to provide young people who wish to go to sea with their first training in practical seamanship on board a designated training ship.
