Dar Pomorza – Ship

The Gift of Pomorze (Dar Pomorza) is a three-masted sailing ship, purchased by the society of Pomorze in 1929 for the Marine School in Gdynia. Since 1982, it is moored in Gdynia as a museum on a ship, a division of the National Marine Museum in Gdańsk.
The frigate was constructed in the „Blohm und Voss” shipyard in Hamburg (1909-1910) by theorder of Deutscher Schulschiff Verein. In the following years, the ship went on school trips, a summer trip (a candidate trip through the waters of Europe) and a winter trip (to the Caribbean Sea). After World War I, it was passed over to France, by the decision of the Treaty of Versailles, as part of the war reparations. Since 1922, it was part of Societe Anonyme de Navigation – Les Armateurs Francais. In 1926, the frigate was taken over by Les Navires Ecoles Francais – there was a plan to exploit it under the name „Colbert”, but it was never fulfilled. In the beginning of 1927, the frigate was occupied by baron Maurice de Forest, who planned to reconstruct it into a yacht with a mechanical drive, but he gave up shortly afterwards and he put the frigate on sale.
It was purchased in July of 1929, by the Polish National Fleet Committee and other organizations.
The Polish frigate, which in the beginning was called „Pomorze”, wasn’t easy to overtake, but once it arrived to the Danish shipyard in Nakskov, it was renovated and reconstructed. It arrived in Gdynia on June 19th, 1930 under the name „Dar Pomorza”, which was meant to commemorate the significant financial participation of the society of Pomorze.