Passat, Museum ship in Travemünde, Germany
The Passat is a steel-hulled sailing ship with four tall masts that stands permanently moored in the harbor of Travemünde. The ship contains multiple decks with exhibit rooms, crew quarters, and cargo holds that show what life was like aboard a working freight sailor.
The ship left the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg in 1911 and sailed to Chile four times before World War I interrupted the voyages. After the war ended it remained docked in a Peruvian harbor until 1921 before resuming service.
The name honors the southeast trade winds that pushed sailing ships across the Atlantic toward South America. Today the ship sits as a floating museum where visitors walk through the same cabins and deck spaces once used by crews on long ocean crossings.
Guided visits lead across the main deck and through interior spaces where exhibits about ship operations and seafaring are set up. Access is by gangway from the quay, with steep stairs and low doorways on board typical of historic sailing vessels.
The city of Lübeck bought the ship in 1959 for 315,000 Deutsche Mark and turned it into a training platform for future sailors at the Schleswig-Holstein maritime school. This ended its career as a freight sailor and began a new life as a floating classroom and later as a museum.
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