Working Group to be Established

As of the 18th of March there was a 105,000 kr balance in the membership account, but due to a little mistake in the account no. some supporters got, there are a number of memberships paid, which didn't come through yet. These should put the balance at over 120,000 kr during the week.

Thomas Bretton-Meyer has called a meeting for those who have joined thus far, to be held this Thursday the 22nd March at the Maritime Center. They will discuss strategy and sharing jobs in the ongoing membership drive. It has been recognised that the goal of reaching 650,000 kr. in under a month was unrealistic. The shipyard has said that they are willing to let the project continue, as it does look very promising. The following announcement from the bank will also be on the agenda, as the date of March 30 must be renegotiated with parties having deposited money:

----- Original Message -----

From: tlp@svendborgsparekasse.dk

To: david@moodie-mobiles.dk

Cc: pj@svendborgsparekasse.dk

Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2007 3:35 PM

Subject: Sejlskibsforeningen "Anne Margrethe"

I forbindelse med foreningens opstart er der etableret en konto med reg.nr. 0815 og konto nr. 0000836222, hvor eventuelle interesserede kan indbetale deres indskud.

In connection with the formation of the association ’Anne Margrethe’ an account with reg. no. 0815, and acct. no. 0000836222 has been established, where interested new members can pay their deposit.

Der kan alene indbetales på kontoen indtil der indestår kr. 650.000, dog senest d. 30-03- 2007. Såfremt der d. 30.03 ikke er opnået et indestående på det ønskede beløb, skal alle indskydere have deres indskud tilbagebetalt. Det er derfor vigtigt at navn og adresse opgives ved indbetaling.

Payments can only be made until the ceiling of 650,000 kr is reached, though at the latest 30th March, 2007. In the case that the sum is not reached by the 30^th March, 2007 all deposits will be repaid. It is therefore important that name and address accompany deposits.


Med venlig hilsen
Trine Lyngs Pytlick
Direkte tlf. 6217 6539
E-mail: tlp@svendborgsparekasse.dk


This is therefore also to notify all depositors that the original conditions are being renegotiated and require a response accordingly.

The meeting will take stock and try to reach agreement on a new date for reaching the goal of the purchase sum, and when to hold the founding general meeting, and if that meeting can take place before the full amount of the purchase fund is reached. It could mean that fund raising in the association's name could begin, but only for funds to purchase the ship.

The meeting will also seek statements from supporters to be used in the ongoing outreach-- why this is a project worthy of supporting!

I will be in NH for three weeks from the 20th March until the 11th of April, to be with my mother who is recovering from a stroke. I can check my regular email at david@moodie-mobiles .dk and see if there are any of you who need to contact me directly there.

Let's keep this looking good! Thomas is also cooking up courses for members of the association, for example in the care and knowledge of wood, in ropemaking, smithing, and other delicacies of the wooden ship world.

Svendborg Sparekasse, our bank, reports that there have been numerous visitors to the exhibition in the bank, which I updated today with some archival photos of the rigging of a new jibboom and refurbished bowsprit in 1996, using traditional rigging techniques, according to the old Danish sailor's "bible" Jens Kusk. Pia Jensen, the bank's private customer chief helped rearrange the exhibition, so that it works better visually for visitors. Thanks Pia!

We wish the meeting on Thursday good inspiration, and look forward to hearing what the outcome will be. We also expect that there will be more new members at the end of the month!

Over 100,000kr Today!

'Anne Margrethe' membership deposits passed 100,000 kr. today.

The membership drive is going well, but there is a likelihood that we will need to extend the period. Thomas will be meeting with Peter Ring-Andersen, the owner of the shipyard, to work out details.
Some correspondence and questions from prospective members indicates that there is a legitimate need to know about how much the annual dues will be! This is difficult to answer, because it will be the founding general meeting which has the authority to decide! However, Thomas Bretton-Meyer has said that his experience shows that it should not be less than 250 kr. nor more than 500 kr per year. Members of the association will not be responsible for creating debt, unless the question is put to the annual general meeting. Otherwise noone will be responsible for more than the annual membership fee.

I will be travelling home to be with my parents from the 2oth March until 11th April.

Translation of the item in the local Svendborg newspaper yesterday is faithfully brought here:

Ketch Gets More and More Friends
The rescue project for the old Svendborg ship 'Anne Margrethe ' is going well

By Bjarne Gregersen

Svendborg: Thomas Bretton-Meyer, the leader of the rescue project for the old Svendborg ketch, which is still called 'Fri', is going really well, he reports.
He is collecting the means to acquire the ship for an association, which will be called Association for the Preservation of 'Anne Margrethe'. The ship had that beautiful girl's name, when launched in 1912 from J. Ring-Andersens Shipyard in Svendborg
"We have over 100,000 kr in the account at Svendborg Sparekasse, and I know that really many more are interested, so it's just a question of time before the amount increases even more, " says Thomas Bretton-Meyer.
Via the Danish Commercial Fleet's Welfare Council information is being sent about the rescue action to all Danish ships, wherever in the world they may be. And that should very well awaken practical interest among seafarers.
The idea is that there are being sold parts á 5,000 kr.,(sic) (NB not true!

More Shipping Lines Join

Sorry, our Internet connection was down for four days!
But good news on a Monday morning: two more shipping lines, Boye TC, and M H Simonsen have joined. Michael Moodie, of Bethesda, Maryland, navigator on the San Francisco to NZ passage in 1971 joined today! As the membership increases and people help to get new members we are expecting this week to be the best to date. The association account now stands at 95,000 kr.
Scuttlebutt has it that this is going to succeed! A positive note: when the ship was raised after she went down at the dock in 2004, the diving company director Frank Larsen confided that he had never seen a salvage operation succeed like that one. On the first try! with all pumps functioning! and with such an amazing cooperation between volunteers and professionals!
That's the spirit of 'Fri'.

Nordane and Stevns Shipping joins

Niels Højlund's three shipping companies, Nordane, Stevns Towage and Stevns Shipping have each purchased a membership in the 'Anne Margrethe' association. The balance stands at 75,000 crowns in the account today! Welcome aboard!

Exhibition at Svendborg Sparekasse

As membership deposits have reached the goal of 1 tenth of the total, 65,000 DKK, our fine little exhibition at Svendborg Sparekasse is attracting attention. For those who haven't joined the association yet, a set of proposed by-laws is available on the blog, below, and banking info is included in the blog header above.

In the public lobby at the bank we've arranged a museum case containing the rare original registration papers for the ship, dated Sept. 6, 1912, and signed by the yard's owner and Mastershipbuilder, Jonannes Ring Andersen. Also in the glass case is the sextant Michael Moodie used on 'Fri's trans Pacific voyage in 1971. It is a Husun, made in Great Britain in 1940. The ship's State inspection book (Skibstilsynsbog) is also displayed. Opened to it's first page, it shows the second name of the ship-- 'Knudsine', an aux. schooner in 1926, and then the subsequent name changes to 'Elsbeth', aux. ketch, and 'Sølyst' ditto. This book records many of the repairs and events, including collisions, in the ship's life between 1926 and 1968.

A folding wall display is full of other documents and pictures from the ship's early life, including a photo of the Claus and Anne Margrethe Grastrup family, the ship's first owners. The grandson of the first skipper, Jørgen Grastrup Hansen has promised to loan the bank the original charcoal drawing of the ship for the exhibition, and other memorabilia from the family's collection.

Thomas Bretton Meyer, the leader of the association under formation is now getting help from other active maritime personalities, including Karsten Kharge, who is chairman of the Wooden Ship Owner's Association, and Martin Stockholm, the coordinator of the Maritime Center.

Proposed Bylaws

Here you can see the Proposed Bylaws of the Sailing vessel ’Anne Margrethe! #112 Association.

Positive Reactions to Meeting at Maritime Center

Wednesday evening was a turning point for the association. Here's what the local paper wrote on Thursday:

Fyns Amst Avis (Funens County News) Thursday March 1, 2007

Positive Reaction about saving ‘Fri’

Already 50,000 kr. in the bank

Svendborg: "The possibility of getting a real Svendborg ship, owned by Svendborg, is within reach,” Thomas Bretton-Meyer said, after an orientation meeting about the rescue action for the ketch ‘Fri’ last night in the Maritime Center. Over 30 positively minded folk attended the thorough orientation on the whole project. The idea is to have at least 120 private persons, firms and institutions to pay 5,000 kr. deposits for memberships. In that way the association can acquire the vessel, which was launched from J. Ring-Andersens Shipyard as ‘Anne Margrethe’.

The association thereafter will raise money by applying to foundations to support the renovation, which will make the vessel seaworthy, so that it can represent Svendborg as a maritime town.

Thomas Bretton-Meyer is pleased that 50,000 kr. has already been deposited in the newly opened escrow account at Svendborg Sparekasse.

Many in Svendborg have shown interest in the project, both in and outside the maritime circuit. One shipowner has deposited for three shares.

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So, now the weeks until March 21 are the deciding moments of this effort. It was really encouraging to see who was at the meeting. I must say it was in the spirit of 'Fri' with a cross section of the community.... people from the waterfront including skippers from charter and historical vessels, a successful cargo and services shipowner of large vessels, shipwrights, an official from the town's schools, small shipowners and musicians, a wealthy and eccentric doctor who also owns a smaller historical vessel, and several people totally outside the waterfront community- just interested in a challenging project!

People were given a complete run through of the basic by-laws proposed and the mechanism of the purchase, with the escrow account holding membership deposits at Svendborg Sparekasse, which money is refundable and only administered by the bank until the 650,000 kr purchase price is reached. Then an agreement must be signed by Ring Andersens Shipyard and myself for the turning over of the ship to the association. The founding meeting of the Association was announced as March 21st.

A curious and informed questioning followed the presentation by Thomas Bretton-Meyer. I was able to give a complete rundown on the extensive repairs made to the ship since 1981 in Amsterdam where the entire deck and its substructure was renewed. Then a period from 1990 to 2004 at Ring Andersens where the entire freeboard of the ship down to several planks under the waterline has been renewed including many frames and stanchions as well. Also the transom has been completely rebuilt. The hull has been certified by inspectors from the Danish Søfartsstyrelsen (Maritime Agency) as conforming to the standards of a Danish registered vessel of a similar age, in 1997, and that the ship after registration in 2000 in the Danish ship's registry, passed her first underwater state inspection with ordinary remarks about a regime of renewal already underway.

An experienced local sail captain in the charter and young persons rehabilitation business interrupted Thomas Bretton-Meyer's sales pitch towards the end of the meeting and said "Thomas, stop! You've already sold us, this is a good project and we support it!" A round of applause was given to Thomas. So when we counted twenty one addresses and signatures on the list which went around the meeting, we feel certain that there are not only most who will give a deposit, but also many ready to put out the word to others and get the job done!

I wanted to let you all know that the efforts of 'Fri' folk around the world were also mentioned at the meeting, and got a laugh when Thomas had to admit that Gilbert and Marie Nicolas' Friends of Fri Association, with their gift of 30,000 kr made the international community the leader at this point in the project!
I told about the group gathering memberships in NZ http://home.clear.net.nz/pages/tiama/ , and the efforts in San Francisco, and that we have members coming from Hong Kong and the UK and Germany. I also was happy to announce that Jørgen, the grandson of the first skipper, Claus Grastrup, has offered to send the original charcoal drawing of the ship and other memorabilia from his family. These will be exhibited at Svendborg Sparekasse during this membership drive.

There was a very positive atmosphere, and several of those in attendance came with news of others who've already said yes to contribute and join. Thomas left the next afternoon to attend the Danish Navigator's Association annual general meeting--- they are the captains who sail the coasters and bulk carriers, ferries and giant container ships. His son is a member and sails with Mærsk. We expect a number of memberships to come from their ranks. I gave Helene Tiama's apology for her not being able to attend, and told of her efforts to gather members from her former crewmates on the schoolship Georg Stage. Liv Anne Margrethe was present at the meeting too.

The following address has been established as a forum for Fri people during this transition at least!
A little background about Fri in Danish and English and info about my Christiansborg ship mobile to support the project is at www.Free-fri.dk

We're hoping for a genuine international response for this great effort to preserve a very unusual vessel and create a viable future for her! Thanks to Thomas Bretton-Meyer at j.tbm@nypost.dk !