Dansih Training Ships.

Denmark post released a set of 4 stamps on 13th June 2015 on the Danish training ships, which play an important role for young people wanting a maritime education or a thorough introduction to life at sea.

The four stamps depict the training ship KoBENHAVN, which disappeared in 1928, the two current training ships DANMARK and GEORG STAGE, while the last stamp depicts FULTON, which is primarily used for school trips for primary and lower secondary school pupils, continuation school etc.

KOBENHAVN: The five-masted bark KOBENHAVN was built for the East Asiatic Company. When launched in 1921, the ship was one of the largest sailing vessels in the world. In De- cember 1928, she left Buenos Aires bound for Adelaide, where she was expected about two months later. However, the ship disappeared without trace on the voyage. Despite an extensive search, no drowned sailors or wreckage were ever found, nor has it ever been established what caused the ship to go down.

DANMARK: After the loss of KOBENHAVN, the training ship DANMARK was built. The new ship was finished in 1932, having been built for the sole purpose of training sailors for the merchant navy.The state-owned ship takes 80 trainees. It is managed by the maritime and polytechnic training centre MARTEC in Frederikshavn in northern Jutland. Since 2010, the language of instruction on board the ship has been English. This strengthens the linguistic skills of the future seamen, while also making it possible for trainees from other countries to do a basic training course on board DANMARK.

GEORG STAGE: The three-masted full-rigged ship GEORG STAGE was built in 1934 to replace an older ship of the same name. The full-rigger belongs to the foundation Stiftelsen Georg Stages Minde, which was set up in 1882 by the shipowner Frederik Stage in memory of his son Georg, who died at an early age.GEORG STAGE houses one of Denmark’s four nautical training colleges and is also the oldest civilian nautical training college in the world. The three-masted full-rigged ship takes 63 trainees. It embarks on a cruise every year in the summer months.

FULTON: The three-masted schooner FULTON was built in 1915 and entered service in the North Atlantic, for example sailing dried cod from Newfoundland to Spain. Since 1970, when the National Museum of Denmark took over the schooner and refurbished it, FULTON has been based in Marstal on the island of Ærø where she was originally built. In the 1970s and 1980s, FULTON was captained for many years by Mogens Frohn, who devoted much of his life to a project aimed at giving disadvantaged youth the opportunity to have a fresh start in life. Today, the Fulton Foundation runs the schooner, which is primarily used for school trips for primary and lower secondary school pupils, continuation school students etc.