Ship Modelers Database
Sigyn (ship, 1887)
Preserved museum ship
Sigyn is a wooden three-masted barque built in 1887 at the Gamla Varvet shipyard in Gothenburg, Sweden, and is recognized as the last surviving wooden barque that was used for ocean-going trade. She has been preserved as a museum ship in Turku, Finland since 1939, making her one of the earliest museum ships in the world.
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Resources
+ Submit a resourceHistory & specifications
- Wikipedia: List of Longest Wooden ShipsWebsite
Confirms Sigyn's length ranking among surviving wooden ships and summary service/fate data.
- Wikipedia: Sigyn (ship)Website
Main overview article with build details, specifications, and museum ship history, useful for general reference and dimensions.
Museums & archives
- Wikipedia: Forum MarinumMuseum
Describes the Turku maritime museum where Sigyn is berthed alongside other preserved historic vessels.
Photos
- Wikimedia Commons: Category Sigyn (ship, 1887)Photo
Photo collection of the preserved ship including hull details, deck fittings, and rigging, useful visual reference for modelers.
History
Specifications
The ship has an overall length of about 57.5 m (length on the waterline 42.7 m), a beam of about 9 m, and a loaded draught of roughly 4.0 m. She was rigged as a barque with roughly 1,000 square meters of sail area, carried a small crew of 10-11, and in her trading days could average 11.5 knots on a good day's run.
Service history
Launched in Gothenburg in 1887, Sigyn made her maiden voyage from Gothenburg to Southampton that same year and went on to sail commercially until 1938. She sailed for her original Swedish owner until 1905, then for several other Swedish shipowners, before being sold to Åland in 1927; after an accident in 1913 she was temporarily rigged as a schooner-barque rather than a full barque. She was purchased in 1939 to become a museum ship in Turku, Finland's first.
Notable facts
Sigyn's hull has undergone two major preservation campaigns: a partial renewal in 1971-1972 at the Suomenlinna shipyard, and a larger-scale renewal in 1998-2001 carried out at Sjökvarteret in Mariehamn (the yard that also built the Åland vessels Albanus and Linden). In 1979, after the first renewal, she was reopened to the public once again rigged as a true barque. She is now moored on the Aura River in Turku as part of the Forum Marinum maritime museum, alongside other preserved vessels such as the full-rigged ship Suomen Joutsen.