Albatros

Laid down in Denmark in 1942 as a galeas cargo sailer, she fished the North Sea as Dagmar Larsen. Owners, rig and name changed several times: Iris Thy in 1951, a reduced rig in 1953, and from 1961 new owners on Bornholm and the name Esther Lohse, when she dredged stone used to build harbours and quays.

In the early 1970s she came to Colchester in England, where she was rigged as a three-masted topsail schooner, her hull repaired and the ship fitted out for sailing with guests; a television series was filmed aboard.

In 1978 the Clipper — Deutsches Jugendwerk zur See project acquired her and restored her extensively, re-planking the hull and renewing the rig. Since then she has been a sailing centre for social and educational youth work. The association's constitution puts it plainly: to give all young people interested in sailing the chance to learn traditional seafaring under competent and educational instruction.

She sails the Baltic from April to October.