A joyous moment for Polish sailing. After more than two years in the shipyard hangar, on January 12, 2023, the hull of the brigantine Kapitan Głowacki was launched again. See how it looks after the refit.
Krzysztof Romański, 12.01.2023
The ship has been undergoing repairs at the Szkuner shipyard in Władysławowo since August 2020. The work is carried out by the Coplexjacht company from Puck, which has extensive experience in restoring wooden vessels (their boatbuilders, among others, worked on the refit of the Generał Zaruski). As the clock was striking 12 o’clock, the hull, which was placed in a seat, unhurriedly floated into the water and successfully passed the leak test. The ceremony was attended by about a hundred people. The attention of the attendees was particularlly drawn by the shiny sides, in which the winter sun rays were spectacularly reflecting.
What you see is actually a new hull. The original steel skeleton remained untouched, while the wooden plating had to be almost entirely replaced. We used a solid material for this purpose – oak. We hope that soon „Głowaś” will join the Fryderyk Chopin and wiill also sail with young people under the flag of The Blue School, explained Piotr Kulczycki, the shipowner, who in 2020 bought the Kapitan Głowacki from the Polish Sailing Association, thus saving the sailing ship from being lost or placed in an open-air museum.
In addition to listening to the shipowner’s speech, the audience had the opportunity to taste a cream cake with an image of the brigantine and drink a symbolic glass of champagne. And what are the further plans for the vessel? Probably still in January, if weather permits, the hull will be towed to Puck. In the fishing port there, the ship’s renovation will be completed. Among other things, there is still to be done the interior construction, the superstructures, masts and the rigging. Interestingly, there will be four yards on the foremast instead of the previous three, while the mainmast rigging will remain the same. Another innovation will be the use of a thruster. Perhaps at the end of the year the Kaptain Głowacki will return to regular sailing. We are keeping our fingers crossed and at the same time congratulating the already done – titanic – work!
The history of Kaptain Głowacki
The vessel was built on the basis of an unfinished German coastal surveillance cutter (the so-called KFK). Poles, who found the wooden hull after the end of the war, tried to bring the construction to completion and use the vessel for fishing. When this failed, in 1949 the ship was acquired by the Polish Marine Education Center and converted in Gdynia into a sailing ship. Rigged as a gaff ketch, it entered service on April 19, 1951 under the name Henryk Rutkowski. The flag was raised in the yacht basin in Gdynia. The vessel made training cruises mainly in the Baltic, and less frequently on the North Sea. She was captained, among others, by Kazimierz Jurkiewicz, who will later command of the Dar Pomorza. In 1959-1963, the sailing ship was transferred to Trzebiez, and later she was sent to the sailing training center of the National Defense League in Jastarnia. She returned to the western Pomerania in 1970 and was renamed the Biały Słoń („White Elephant”) for several months.
Since 1975, the ship was chartered by Polish Television for the purpose of training young people from the Brotherhood of the Iron Shackle of Adam Jasser. After the first season – in September 1975 – the BŻS instructors took a cruise to Great Britain and visited London, as well as Brightlingsea, Amsterdam and Copenhagen. The period of intensive use took a clear toll on the condition of „Rutek”. A general overhaul was necessary, for which funds were in short supply. The ship was therefore laid up for almost a decade (1976-1986) and returned to sailing in 1986, renovated and rebuilt in Władysławowo as a brigantine. Not only the rigging was changed, but also the color of the sails, which was now brown. The vessel also had the ability to set stud sails.
In 1997 the owner – the Polish Sailing Association – decided to change the name to Kapitan Głowacki. The communist activist Henryk Rutkowski was replaced in the role of patron by Władysław Głowacki, a promoter of sailing in Poland who died in 1995. The Kaptain Głowacki achieved his greatest success in 2014, when, unexpectedly, sailing under the command of captain Wojciech Maleika, she triumphed in The Tall Ships Races. Unfortunately, after a season rich in regatta laurels, the vessel got stuck in Trzebież, waiting for better times. Funds for the needed renovation, however, were never found. In August 2016, the situation became dramatic. Moored at the berth, the leaking vessel settled to the bottom of the harbor basin. After she was picked up in October 2016, she was towed to Kołobrzeg, from where, after a change of ownership, she went to Władyslawowo for repairs on August 6, 2020. The total length of the vessel is 30.7 meters, the height of her masts is 22.4 meters.
Krzysztof Romański
12.01.2023
Photo in the header: Krzysztof Romański
See our photo report from before and after the launch of Captain Glowacki:
