Four-masted ship MAGDALENE VINNEN

Photographer William James Hall (Australian, 1877 - 1951)

Datec 1920

Object numberANMS1092[044]

NameGlass plate negative

MediumEmulsion on glass

ClassificationsPhotographs

Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from Mr and Mrs Glassford

Terms

HistoryThis image is likely to be the four-masted steel barque, MAGDALENE VINNEN II, built in 1921 in Kiel, Germany for F. A. Vinnen and Company in Bremen. MAGDALENE VINNEN II was the first sailing ship to be built with a modern auxiliary engine. The vessel was, at the time of its launch, the world's largest auxiliary barque and was used exclusively as a cargo ship. In 1936 MAGDALENE VINNEN II was sold to Norddeutscher Lloyd, Bremen and renamed KOMMODORE JOHNSEN. The vessel was used as a cargo-carrying training ship and more accommodation space was created to provide for 50 - 60 trainee officers. At the end of WW2 and the surrender of Germany, the vessel came under Russian state ownership as war reparation. In the Soviet Union the ship was renamed SEDOV and used as training vessel for the Soviet Navy. In the 1950s and 60s SEDOV was employed as an oceanographic research ship in the North Atlantic. In 1991 SEDOV was transferred to the Municipality of Murmansk and its School of Navy at the Murmansk University. The vessel still operates today as a sail training ship.SignificanceThe Hall photographic collection provides an important pictorial record of recreational boating in Sydney Harbour from the 1890s to the 1930s. The collection documents the lively sailing scene in Sydney during this period and features images of vessels ranging from large racing and cruising yachts to the great array of skiffs and the emerging technologies of motorboats. Images of many iconic vessels are also included in this visual record.