Training Ship Joseph Conrad

Built by Burmeister and Wain in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1882, the iron-hulled training ship later known as Joseph Conrad originally sailed as Georg Stage on six-month training cruises in the Baltic and North Seas, carrying 80 cadets at a time. In 1905, it sank in a collision that killed 22 young men, but it was raised and repaired, and more than 4,000 cadets sailed on it over 50 years of service. In 1934, Australian sailor Alan Villers bought the ship, renamed it Joseph Conrad after the Polish-born British novelist, and continued using it to teach seamanship, taking it on a two-year voyage around the world that covered 58,000 miles with a crew of professional seamen and paying cadets. Financier G. Huntington bought the vessel in 1936 and converted it into a yacht with luxury accommodations, and after three years Hartford turned it over to the U.S. Maritime Commission. During World War II, it trained U.S. Merchant Marine personnel in Florida. In 1947, President Harry S. Truman signed an act of Congress donating the ship to Mystic Seaport, where today it serves both as an exhibit and as a training ship for young people in the Mystic Mariner Program Joseph Conrad Summer Camp, who receive instruction in sailing, seamanship, and maritime life.

Mystic, Connecticut · United States