It must be spring as Norwegian sail training ship returns
The sail training ship Statsraad Lehmkuhl was the main focal point at Lerwick Harbour this week, after she berthed at Victoria Pier on Wednesday.
The Bergen-based three-masted vessel – operated by the Statsraad Lehmkuhl Foundation – proved an impressive sight after she arrived from Kirkwall.
She has a long and illustrious history behind her, having been built in 1914 as a school training ship for the German merchant marine under the name Grossherzog Friedrich August.
The ship was claimed as a prize by the UK at the end of the first world war, before being bought in 1921 by former cabinet minister Kristoffer Lehmkuhl, who gave the ship her current name.
She was donated to the Lehmkuhl foundation in 1978, since when she has been used, among other things, as a training ship for the Norwegian navy. This week’s visit is the first of six trips to the isles this year.
In other news the British reefer Green Austevoll berthed at the Greenhead base on Sunday having sailed from St Petersburg. She loaded with frozen fish from the Catch before heading for Iceland.
