Kalmar Nyckel

The "Kalmar Nyckel" ("Key of Kalmar") was a Dutch built armed merchant ship noted for carrying Swedish settlers in 1638 to establish the colony of New Sweden (an area that is now Wilmington, Delaware USA). A re-creation of the ship was launched in Wilmington in 1997.

History

The Kalmar Nyckel was constructed in about 1625 and was a design called a pinnace. The ship was named after the city of Kalmar in Sweden, which purchased the ship in 1628 as its contribution to the Royal Swedish Navy. When Sweden decided to launch an expedition to establish a trading colony in the new world under the direction of Peter Minuit, the "Kalmar Nyckel" was chosen for the voyage. A smaller vessel, the "Fogel Grip" ("Griffin Bird"), accompanied her.

The ship set sail, captained by Jan Hindriksen van der Water, from Gothenburg in December 1637 but encountered a severe storm in the North Sea and diverted to Holland for repairs. She departed again New Year's Day 1638, arriving in the new colony in March 1638. The "Kalmar Nyckel" made four successive round trips from Sweden, which is a record unchallenged by any other colonial vessel. Later, she served the Royal Swedish Navy in the Swedish-Danish War, then was used as a merchant ship, and finally was lost at sea in the late 17th century. There are two conflicting reports of where she was lost. One report says she went down off the coast of the city of Kalmar, another report says she sank in the North Sea, off the coast of England.

The modern Kalmar Nyckel

In 1986 a group of citizens in Wilmington, Delaware established the Kalmar Nyckel Foundation, whose primary source of funding comes from the taxpayers of the State of Delaware along with donations from corporations and individuals to design, to build and launch a re-creation of the Kalmar Nyckel. The ship was built at a shipyard in Wilmington on the Christina river near the original 1628 Swedish settler's landing site at Fort Christina. It was launched on September 28, 1997 and commissioned on May 9, 1998. The re-creation measures 93 feet overall with a 25 foot beam, a 12 foot draft, and displaces 300 tons.

The ship is operated and maintained by a volunteer staff, under the leadership of a paid captain, boatswain, and a chief mate. In November 2006 the captain of the new Kalmar Nyckel, David W. Hiott, who skippered it for nine seasons, died suddenly, from the effects of recurring melanoma. Captain Lauren Morgens took over as Captain April 1, 2007, with Captain Sharon Litcofsky, Chief Mate/Relief Captain and Corey Young, Second Mate/Education Officer.

The Foundation is now entering into its 11^th season. Volunteers maintain the ship, run the education program, and sail from port to port.

ee also

* Måns Andersson
* Ship replica (including a list of ship replicas)

References

* [http://www.thebrandywine.com/attractions/kalmar.html thebrandywine.com, "Kalmar Nyckel - Delaware's Tall Ship", Unica Multimedia, 2007]

External links

* [http://www.kalmarnyckel.org/ "Kalmar Nyckel" ship replica official website]