Training Ship
Joseph Conrad
Built: 1882
Burmeister & Wain
Copenhagen, Denmark
Length: 111'
Beam: 25'
Draft: 12'
The veteran training ship Joseph Conrad sailed under three flags before permanently mooring at Mystic. Built in Copenhagen in 1882, she was named the Georg Stage. The iron-hulled vessel sailed the Baltic and North Seas on six-month training cruises, carrying 80 cadets at a time. In 1905 she sank in a collision, with the loss of 22 boys, but was raised and repaired. More than 4,000 cadets sailed on her in total over 50 years.
In 1934, Australian sailor Alan Villiers bought the ship, renamed her Joseph Conrad after the Polish-born British novelist, and continued to use her to teach seamanship. With a crew of professional seamen and paying cadets, he made a two-year cruise around the world, covering 58,000 miles.
Financier G. Huntington Hartford bought the Conrad in 1936 and converted her to a yacht with luxury accommodations. After three years, Hartford turned the ship over to the U.S. Maritime Commission. During World War II, she trained U.S. Merchant Marine personnel in Florida.
In 1947, President Harry S. Truman signed an act of Congress giving the Conrad to Mystic Seaport. Today she is both an exhibit and a training ship for boys and girls (ages 10 to 15). They receive instruction in sailing, seamanship, and maritime life.ID# 1947.1948
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