The "Eye of the Wind" has been at home on the seven seas for more than a century. The long history of the sailing ship begins in 1911 in Brake on the Lower Weser. There the two-master is launched as the topsail schooner "Friedrich".
Until 1923, the "Friedrich" sailed the Baltic and North Seas as a cargo ship. Then the ship is sold to Sweden and is used for decades as a cargo and mail ship under the name "Merry". In the years that followed, it was gradually converted into a motor ship, and the masts were removed in 1926.
From the motor cargo ship back to the tall ship
A devastating ship fire, which started in the engine room and destroyed the wooden deck and the deckhouses, ended the cargo ship's career in 1969 - the "Merry" was no longer seaworthy. This is the decisive turning point:British and Australian sailing ship enthusiasts buy the badly damaged ship in 1973 and convert it into a two-masted brigantine. The deckhouses are made from teak from a former dance floor, and old English church pews are installed below deck in the saloon. After the complete refurbishment, the sailing ship also gets a new name with "Eye of the Wind".
Circumnavigation in Francis Drake's footsteps
The very first voyage takes the "Eye of the Wind" on a world tour:It goes to Australia, to the South Seas and around Cape Horn, which is notorious for its treacherous winds. After the first circumnavigation of the world, the next challenge followed in 1978:the tall ship was named the flagship of "Operation Drake". The two-year expedition voyage under the patronage of Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, takes the ship around the world in the footsteps of the famous seafarer. More than 400 different crew members take part during the different stages.
"Eye of the Wind" sets course for Hollywood
Another career began for the sailor in the 1980s - as a Hollywood star. He can be seen in several movies, such as 1980 in "The Blue Lagoon", 1983 in "Pirate Island", 1986 in "Tai-Pan" and most recently in 1996 in "White Squall - Torrent". In the 90s, the ship takes young people on board for sailing training.
In 2000, a Danish entrepreneur bought the ship and had it modernized. The "Eye of the Wind" is no longer accessible to the public until his death in 2009. A German company bought the glider in 2009 and has been organizing management training courses and group trips on board throughout the year ever since. The brigantine with the characteristic red-brown sails and the black-white-red hull is also a regular guest at German tall ship meetings and port festivals such as the Hamburg Port Birthday, the Kiel Week and the Hanse Sail in Rostock.