Thor Heyerdahl (ship)

Thor Heyerdahl at the Kiel Week 2007
History
Germany
Name	Thor Heyerdahl
Owner	Segelschiff Thor Heyerdahl gemeinnützige Fördergesellschaft mbH
Launched	1930
Refit	In 1979-1983 as a three-masted topsail schooner
Homeport	Kiel
Identification	IMO number: 5221491 MMSI number: 211232340 Callsign: DKQH
Status	Active
General characteristics
Length	49.48 m overall (formerly 49.83 m); hull: 42.50 m
Beam	6,53 m
Height	29 m
Draft	2.90 m (formerly 2.55 m)
Propulsion	400 PS Deutz-Diesel, 6 cylinders, * 1951, 400/min max.
Sail plan	three-masted topsail schooner (830 m²)

Thor Heyerdahl (named after Thor Heyerdahl), originally named Tinka, later Marga Henning, Silke, and Minnow, was built as a freight carrying motor ship with auxiliary sails at the shipyard Smit & Zoon in Westerbroek, Netherlands, in 1930.^[1] Her original homeport being Hamburg, Germany, she was used for the next 50 years as a freighter. Eventually sailing under the flag of Panama as Minnow and then awaiting further use in Germany, she was bought in 1979 by two sailing enthusiasts, who turned the now run-down ship into a topsail schooner to use it for sail training, especially for teenagers and young adults. One of the two original owners was Detlef Soitzek, who had sailed with the Norwegian anthropologist, zoologist, ethnologist and adventurer Thor Heyerdahl on his Tigris expedition in 1977/1978, and suggested naming the ship after the famous researcher and adventurer. The ownership of the ship was subsequently turned over to an association.

From spring to fall, Thor Heyerdahl sails mainly the Baltic Sea and participates in international sail training events. In winter, the ship has repeatedly crossed the Atlantic Ocean and sailed in the Caribbean, especially as classroom under sails with teenage crews.