April

The old sailing ship Marilyn Anne is beautiful, both from the shore and the water side. The ship has a well documented history. It is a 3-masted schooner and was built in Marstal in 1919. It has sailed under the name “Forward” especially on the “Newfoundland Line”, where many sailing ships from Marstal until WW2 earned their money transporting fish from Newfoundland especially to the Iberian Peninsula. Marilyn Anne was also in Tunisia, Morocco and South America. Before WW2 the ship was sold to Skärhamn in Sweden and sailed under the name “Vestervaag” in northern Europe. During the war, it sailed on the Baltic Sea, and after the war was used for fishing around Iceland. In 1958 the ship returned to Denmark under the name “Vest” of Aalborg, sailing with cement, coal, fertilizer and things like that. In 1968, it finally got the name “Marilyn Anne”, when it was bought by an American, who planned to restore the ship, which was never completed. In 1978, the ship was bought by the municipality of Struer and after being restored, was transferred to an operating company of Struer, Holstebro, Herning and Ringkøbing County in 1985. Since then, the ship has served as a school at sea.

Struer Museum, Jesper Bækgaard

 

 

Old wooden sailingships restored

The association was founded in 1998.
Nordvestjysk Fjord Culture’s overall goal is to preserve and mediate the cultural values, ​​stored in older wooden ships that have been used for either business or pleasure sailing.
The association has 130 members, most of them are retired and over 60 years old. About 40 members are active with constant attendance on the fixed working days.
We have 16 boats available for the members, 2 of which are under restoration, and only later can be used for sailing. Two are waiting to be restored. Some of our vessels are of recent date, but constructed either as copies of older boats, or built with inspiration from older vessels. However, the 10 oldest ones were both built between 1900 and 1960.

Holstebro-Struer Harbour has provided a special area for the Association’s wooden boats. This place is close to Struer’s pedestrian street. In front of each boat in the harbour is a stand with description of the boat. Many people study the history of the boats during the summer as they go to the harbour.
In addition to the activities with the boats, the association also organizes lectures with a maritime or historical content. The association is one of the main actors of the annual sail boat race “Around the Limfjord” for older and larger wooden ships. “Around the Limfjord” has been held for 30 years. Nowadays about 650 persons are joining the race.You are always welcome to look inside our premises at Havnevej 6.

Asger Brodersen