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.