Name Thor Heyerdahl Beam 6,53 m | Homeport Kiel Launched 1930 | |
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Owner Segelschiff Thor Heyerdahl gemeinnützige Fördergesellschaft mbH Refit In 1979-1983 as a three-masted topsail schooner Length 49.48 m overall (formerly 49.83 m); hull 42.50 m | ||
Thor Heyerdahl (named after Thor Heyerdahl), originally named Tinka, later Marga Henning, Silke, and Minnow, was built as a freight carrying motor ship with auxiliary sails at the shipyard Smit & Zoon in Westerbroek, Netherlands, in 1930. Her original homeport being Hamburg, Germany, she was used for the next 50 years as a freighter. Eventually sailing unter the flag of Panama as Minnow and then awaiting further use in Germany, she was bought in 1979 by two sailing enthusiasts, who turned the now run-down ship into a topsail schooner to use it for sail training, especially for teenagers and young adults. One of the two original owners was Detlef Soitzek, who had sailed with the Norwegian anthropologist, zoologist, ethnologist and adventurer Thor Heyerdahl on his Tigris expedition in 1977/1978, and suggested to name the ship after the famous researcher and adventurer. The ownership of the ship was subsequently turned over to an association.
From spring to fall, Thor Heyerdahl sails mainly the Baltic Sea and participates in international sail training events. In winter, the ship has repeatedly crossed the Atlantic Ocean and sailed in the Caribbean, especially as classroom under sails with teenage crews.