What is Martha:
Martha
is a fine example of the danish so-called “Jagt-skonnert” with its
round, spoonlike stem and flat transom, where the rounded tumble-home of
the broad upper part combined with the sharp waterline leading to the
outside rudder, resembles the outline of a heart. Severel schooners
looking very much like Martha came from Lindtners Yard in Vejle.
Launched in 1900 the ship originally was a pure sailing vessel. Only by
1923 a two-cylinder Diesel-engine and propeller was installed.
Rebuilding
the ship, the aim has been to recreate the fully developed, and easily
manhandled fore-and-aft-schooner, and at the the same time, in deck
arrangement, allowing for necessary access to galley and living quarters
below deck as well as skylights and engine-room cover. A fine collection
af fotos has made it possible to study the details and measurements,
especially for the period of the twenties.
The
Schooner Martha Society (in Danish: Foreningen til Skonnerten Marthas
Restaurering) owns and runs the ship since 1973. During these
over
thirty years, the society, though most of the members were always
amateurs, gained an enormous amount of experience in the craft of
building, maintaining and handling a wooding veteran sailingship. The
hull, the anchors, the masts, electrical systems, whatever, are made
according to guidance and rules set by Danish State Ships Inspection.
Martha as stonefisher before the start
of rebuilding - 1970
The
ship must be capable on enduring whatever the conditions it may meet.
Every crew is formed around a small experienced group. Newcomers are
welcome and ambitions are set accordingly. The ship is equipped for twenty
persons, and safety comes first, also when adults bear off alone.
Martha looks like this after rebuilding
- 1990
MARTHA foundered in the early hours of July 11th 2004. Tragically,
the skipper, Hans “Hibiscus” Jensen and the young crewmember Sara
Oksbjerre Mortensen both drowned as the ship sank. Salvaged after a
week on the bottom of the Kattegat, the ship is now to be fully
restored in order to be able to operate again as sailing schooner.
MARTHA resting on the
seabed, the mastheads
still some twenty feet above the water
Photo: Allan Kartin/TV2
/ ØSTJYLLAND |
MARTHA recovered by
the floating crane SAMSON
Photo: Eigil Nielsen |
The present
prospects make us believe MARTHA is ready for sea in 2006.
Port quarter planking and frames
renewed by A/S Grenå Skibsværft
- autumn 2004.
Photo: Chresten Vester
Let
us hope that one day the MARTHA will again present
herself
as she did on the photo below,
taken 2002 in the Limfjorden.
Photo: Thorkild
Sandbeck |
