Built in 1882 by Burmeister & Wain, København, specifically for the Stiftelsen Georg Stages Minde foundation (which is still around) to be employed as a sailing schoolship, the 111-foot long, 400 ton Georg Stages was a small ship for high seas mercantile service to be sure, but she was very accommodating and perfect for use in training as many as 80 cadets at a time, stretching 10,000 sq. ft. of sail as she went.
Georg Stage I forlader København ca. år 1890.
After a 50-year career in which she reportedly trained more than 4,000 young men in the art of working aloft while underway, Georg Stages was sold to an Australian author and adventurer who renamed her Josef Conrad.
Changing hands and in bad shape, her third owner donated the aging three master to the U.S. Maritime Commission in 1939 and USMSTS Joseph Conrad helped train more than 25,000 merchant sailors in the art of seamanship during WWII.
US Navy SNJ Texan training aircraft making a low-level pass near a three-masted sailing ship Joseph Conrad, built in 1882, photo taken in 1942.
In the hands of Mystic Seaport since 1947, by an act of Congress, Conrad is still around and looks good but hasn’t been to sea in generations. However, they warn that her days may be limited.
That could change as a group in Denmark has three goals for the old girl:
- Secure Joseph Conrad ex Georg Stage for posterity.
- Bring the ship back to Denmark and put it in a seaworthy condition.
- Find a purpose where the ship can once again provide assistance in the public interest.
Also is the possibility, once back in Copenhagen, that she will become the only sailing ship that is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.