En tidning från Breakwater Publishing
och Svenska Ostindiska Compagniet
om Ostindiefararen Götheborg

the Götheborg Courier | June 2006

Dreams come true

After ten years of planning, dreaming, hard work and a combination of initiative and imagination without parallel, the Götheborg was at last ready for the long and venturesome voyage to China.

A crew of 80 men and women had signed on and the ship left her home harbour in Göteborg on 2 October 2005. There were many onboard and on the quayside that wondered how the journey would go. How well would she sail? Would she manage such a tough passage? How would the crew, used to a comfortable, modern life, manage onboard? All these doubts turned out to be unfounded and as the journey progressed and the days went by, it became clear that both the ship and her crew were eminently suited to their mission of sailing to China.

In the first section of this publication of the “The Götheborg Courier” we relate the tale of the voyage to China; about life at sea, in harbours, navigation and sailing. To give an overall picture we include a retrospective in the second section and reproduce the story of how the ship was built and equipped.

Götheborg, the flagship of the Swedish merchant fleet, is widely acclaimed wherever she arrives and her voyage to China has been one long triumphal procession. Both the ship and her crew have shown that when there is a will, there is a way. The apparently impossible can be achieved.
Our hope is that the project will inspire and enthuse people of all ages over the whole world to strive and work to make their dreams come true.

Robert Hermansson, Editor-in-chief

The voyage and life onboard

The very first sailing. At the beginning of June the proud ship sailed to Oslo, Norway, where the kings of Sweden and Norway came aboard.

The passage to China. In the 18th century, during the time of the original East India Company, ships usually departed from Sweden in January or February to reach the favourable winds.

From the safe home harbour towards adventure. The permanent crew sign on one by one, and gathered on the quayside are about fifty deckhands looking a little lost but full of expectation.

Towards Cadiz with silent sails. We soon pass Skagen on the port side, then the Skagerrak and North Sea are open ahead of us.

Cadiz – the first official stop. On the arrival there were hundreds of people that had come to welcome the ship.

A day in the life of a deckhand. Teamwork is the keyword for deckhands on the Götheborg.

Providing food on board requires new solutions. The greatest challenge was the seven weeks’ sailing and we managed that with flying colours.

Christmas bathing en route to Recife. On Christmas Eve itself we sight land for the first time in weeks.

New Year in Recife. The pier was crowded with onlookers during the arrival at Marco Zero.

Sailing beyond the limits. Just like the bumblebee cannot fly in theory, this ship should not be possible to build and sail – but it can.

My first reef seizing. It was about 25 metres above the sea.

No rolling despite good winds. Before I signed on I thought that it would be a dreadful rolling and pitching and bouncing around.

Navigating, as in the 18th century. Navigation is the art of determining the position and heading of a ship in order to guide it from harbour to harbour.

Changeable weather and rigging failure en route to Cape Town. Having left Recife, the crew set sail and put the ship on a course ever southwards.

Beautiful arrival in Cape Town. The sun broke through, the fog lifted and in the background was the omnipresent Table Mountain.

Krill, plankton and chlorophyll occupy researchers onboard. The Götheborg sailed between South Africa and Australia in Linnés tracks – or rather wake – with two oceanographers and their research onboard.

Whale sighting en route to Port Elizabeth. March 9 finally arrived, the anchor was raised and the Götheborg sailed towards the quay.

Preparations in Port Elizabeth. The ship was visited by crowds of people and at the same time was given a thorough going-over.

Over the vast Indian Ocean to Fremantle. The feeling of being so far from land, midway between two continents, is both frightening and fascinating.

Cultures met in Fremantle. Fantastic, majestic and important are all big words, but do not do justice to the situation.

Safe sailing with a strong escort. Daily training and courses keep the safety and security levels high at all times.

Sailing through pirate waters towards Jakarta. The anchorage is in one of the world’s most pirate-infested areas.

Building the Götheborg

The Swedish East India Company – the most profitable firm in Sweden.
If a Swedish ship-owner competed with the Swedish East India Company, his ships and freight was to be confiscated.

An historic retrospective. The story of the first ship named the Götheborg started in Stockholm at the end of the 1730’s.

Sheathing with tar, oak and nails to protect the hull from shipworm. Ocean-going ships have been sheathed since the end of the fifteenth century when the Portuguese and Spanish conquered the seas.

The Götheborg is rigged in the old-fashioned way. Rigging an 18th century ship is like travelling in time without a guide. We can search in old documents, but much of the information was never printed.

Several thousand square metres of sail
are sewn by hand in the sail loft. The Götheborg has 26 sails with different names. All of them are hand sewn in half-bleached linen.

Hidden high technology in a wooden hull. The Götheborg will have the same appearance as her predecessor when she is rigged and ready at the quayside and when she rides the waves with full, trimmed and sheeted sails.

Important ties formed as China’s foreign minister visits the Götheborg. The Chinese foreign minister, Mr Li Zhaoxing, promised a warm welcome for the Götheborg when she arrives in China.

Queen Silvia christens the Götheborg.
On 3 September 2004 the Götheborg was christened in the harbour near the Opera in Göteborg. A large number of guests were invited to the ceremony, including of course the project’s main patron, King Carl XVI Gustaf, and its godmother, Queen Silvia.

Mythological decorations with much symbolism. I am one of the few professional ships carvers in Europe and has been working on the Götheborg project for over five years.

Can the Götheborg really sail? Over the years there have been many doubts expressed about the sailing and manoevring capabilities of the Götheborg.