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A replica of an 18th century sailing ship, and the largest ocean-going wooden ship in the world, has docked in Jersey... Express went to find out what life is like for the crew living and working on it...
A key feature in this weekend's Barclays Boat Show, Götheborg of Sweden is an exact 1:1 replica of the 18th century merchant ship of the same name that sailed as part of the Swedish East India Company and sank outside Gothenburg in 1745.
It is currently in Jersey as part of its 2023 European Tour. The tour began in Barcelona at the end of March, and left Gibraltar 17 days ago.
Marielle Cocozza (27), originally from Gothenburg in Sweden and one of the ships officers, has been sailing the Götheborg for two years.
She said that the conditions on their trip to Jersey from Gibraltar were rather choppy – "It was actually kind of rough. It's been constantly rolling, it was heaving and pitching a lot". She didn't find it "nerve-wracking", however, "just annoying".
"You know when you're going to sleep and you want to have a glass of water next to your bed, like, you can't, because you've got to make sure it's secure... I actually fell out of my bunk once."
Pictured: The Götheborg sailing into St. Helier.
However, for the most part, Marielle finds life aboard the Goethborg a cut above her usual sailing experiences.
"It's really exciting. Every sailing ship is different. I'm actually really comfortable on board here. I mean, I have my own cabin, we have wifi. And it's big... what I'm used to is half the length, like a third of the width. You know, where I come from, we have to sleep with our rain gear on. So this is luxury."
Marielle is one of the ship's 20 professional sailors. For the other 50 deckhands, life is significantly less luxurious. They don't get their own cabins, have no access to wifi, and live, eat and sleep grouped together below decks – most of them in hammocks.
Kimberly Andreasson (31), also from Gothenburg, said: "The ship becomes your world, you live in a bubble. It’s only the ship, it's only the job and the people.
"You don’t have any signal on your phone so you don’t know what’s going on in the world. You have to get along, you live together, you eat together, you work together."
Pictured: Kimberly Andreasson, a deckhand on the Götheborg.
Aside from being part of the Sea Scouts, Kimberly has no previous sailing experience. When she saw an advert in the local paper offering a chance to sail aboard the Götheborg, she signed up immediately. "I had no idea what to expect, but it sounded like a great adventure... It sounded like it would be too good to be true.”
Once she joined the crew, she had to learn quickly how to fit into her new role as an 18th century sailor. "You've got to do all this work where you’ve got no idea what you’re doing, and some of it's pretty heavy! You’ve got to go climbing up like 40m or rigging… You get used to it – you start out in the daylight, then in the dark, then the dark and rain… Hopefully in that order.
“If you want to learn, you can, but you’ve got to put some effort into it. There’s like 300 ropes, or something like that, so when they scream, ‘pull on that rope!’, you’re always like, ‘Which one was it?!’”
The ships rigging rises up 47m above the waterline and the crew is required to scale all the way up to release the ship's hemp sails.
Marcus Kindberg (27), said of his first time scaling the rigging: "It was quite scary, because we have to climb up the rigging and then actually climb out and sort of hang above the deck, but we are always secured with a harness, which they didn't have back then... They didn't expect everyone to come back and we do expect everyone to come back."
Pictured: "You should like to climb" to work on the ship, according to its captain.
Torbin Hildemane (57), the Captain of the Götheborg, gave the following advice to any prospective crew: "You should like to climb."
Torbin first sailed on the ship in 2006 as the ship's Second Officer, and was made captain one year ago. He's sailed for most of his life, and has experience in the merchant navy.
He said: "It's really nice, it's exciting. And there's so many enthusiastic people. There's 72 people aboard the ship. Everybody here is a volunteer, everyone is here wanting to learn how to sail this kind of ship."
Pictured: Captain Torbin Hildemane.
"Some of them have never been on a ship before, so it's quite an experience for them. You don't have to be experienced, you'll learn everything here on the ship. Some of them have been here for two, three, even six weeks and now they know everything, even in the middle of the night they can go up and take down the sails.
"The thing I think is special on this ship is when you're sailing, the sail is the same material and the same technique as they had in the 1700s. So when you shit off the engines, we are all sailing in the same way that they did at that time.
"In those days they were very very skilful... We have things like GPS so we know where we are all the time. For them, when they were sailing, they didn't know what was just over the horizon."
For those with a desire to taste life on the high seas, the Götheborg currently has three spaces in its crew left to fill, to help sail the nine-day leg from Jersey to Rotterdam.
For prospective crew members, Kimberly gave the following advice: "Bring a lot of layers and snacks. Chocolate is like the currency of the ship, you can use it for anything. And just be prepared to put in some effort and it will be really rewarding.”
Pictured: The crew of the Götheborg mooring the ship at the Albert Pier.
Likewise, Marcus said: “If you’ve never been on a boat you should take seasickness pills. And don’t be afraid to try to do stuff. You don’t have to do everything at first, if it’s rocking and it's scary you don’t have to climb the rigging but it's good to challenge yourself and try to do it. It’s scary the first time, and then it will be better.”
For those still on the fence, Marielle said: "I mean, life at sea can be completely wonderful. And it can be something very horrible. But it's mostly amazing.
"I mean, if it were really bad nobody would be here. It's like life. You have to go through the bad stuff to see the good stuff as well."
The Götheborg is currently moored alongside the Albert Pier and will be available to visit during the Barclay's Boat Show. It will be open from 10:00–18:45, with last entry at 18:00. The Götheborg leaves Jersey on Monday 1 May.
For more information, or to sign up, you can visit HERE.
World's largest wooden sailing ship coming to Jersey waters
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