Sołdek, Museum ship at National Maritime Museum in Gdańsk, Poland
Sołdek is a cargo vessel preserved as a museum ship at the National Maritime Museum in Gdańsk and measuring 87 meters (285 feet) in length. The ship displays four cargo holds, reloading equipment, crew quarters, and a fully preserved engine room with steam power.
The shipyard in Gdańsk delivered the vessel in 1949 as the first merchant steamer built in Poland after the war. The freighter transported coal and ore on more than a thousand voyages over three decades until retirement in 1981.
The name honors the shipyard worker Stanisław Sołdek, one of the builders who helped construct the vessel after the Second World War. Visitors walk through narrow cabins and cargo spaces to see how sailors lived and worked on board.
Access is via a steep gangway onto the deck, so the visit can be difficult for people with limited mobility. The museum opens Tuesday through Sunday, and most spaces are easier to explore in dry weather.
The ship combines welded and riveted hull sections, a rare technique from the transition period of shipbuilding. Today it stands as the only preserved steam-powered coal and ore carrier of its kind worldwide.
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