History Poseidon

Build in 1903

The clipper Poseidon was built in the year of 1903 at the Duyvendijk shipyard in Papendrecht as the Zuid-Holland (South Holland), the name given to all the ships of the Swets family. The ship was handed down from father to son and spent half a century transporting building materials round the waters of Zealand purely on wind power. She also made regular trips to Germany to load coal and stone, and later on sugar.

In 1956 the ship was refurbished as motorship and continued to carry freight until 1997 when the Rotterdam Beurs which distributed freight amongst the Dutch inshore fleet closed down resulting in increased competition. A ship of 260 tonnes was no longer economically viable and she was put up for sale. The last skipper Theo Swets found a job on shore and ownership passed to Frans and Frouke Fischer.

After a year spent renovating the ship, she was restored to her former glory as a sailing vessel. The Poseidon, appropriately renamed after the god of the sea, has a practical rigging of mainsail, mizzen, foresail and 2 jibs.