D for "Dar Młodzieży" And "Dar Pomorza"

 

"Dar Młodzieży" (Gift of Youth) is a tall ship that belongs to Gdynia Maritime University and serves as the school training ship. It was built in the Gdansk Shipyard and launched in 1981. 

 

"Dar Młodzieży"/ Gift of Youth

In 1982, "Dar Młodzieży" replaced the old "Dar Pomorza" (Gift of Pomerania) in the training service. The latter ship is old indeed. It was built in 1909 in Germany. After WW1, the vessel was taken by Great Britain as part of war reparations and was next brought to France. The tall ship was used there as a seaman's school training ship. 

 

"Dar Pomorza"/Gift of Pomerania

In 1930, it was sold to Poland. Actually, it was bought with the money raised by the inhabitants of Pomerania (that's where the ship's name comes from). Later, rebuilt and supplied with an auxiliary engine, "Dar Pomorza" traveled around the world, with Maritime University students on its deck. When it got too old to serve, the ship was turned into a museum and docked at the Gdynia marina. 

 

On the deck of "Dar Pomorza" - August 2011

 

 

Her sister ship "Dar Młodzieży" docks nearby when she comes back home from her voyages.

 

"Dar Młodzieży"

 

"Dar Młodzieży" - view from the naval craft museum "Błyskawica"*

 

Both tall ships (especially "Dar Pomorza" which has become part of the local landscape) are the icons of Gdynia.

 

If you do not know where the port city of Gdynia is, check out the map of Europe, look for Poland, then the north of the country by the Baltic sea.

* More about the naval craft in another entry of "My Polish Alphabet", later.

"My Polish Alphabet" is about things, people, and places that come to my mind when I think of Poland.