Sigyn (Swedish sailing barque)

Sigyn, built in Göteborg 1887, now museum ship in Turku, is the last remaining wooden barque used for trade across the oceans. At the time she was built there were thousands of similar vessels, but she was one of the last ones built.  She was quite small even for her time, considering she was built for long-distance trade, but well built and considered fast and beautiful.

As a merchant ship in those times, steam ships were taking over the most important routes - the Suez canal was already built and the Panama canal was planned.  The tonnage of steam ships passed that of sailing ships in 1890, ten and thirty years later in Sweden and Finland respectively.  On the other hand this was the time when big barques of steel were built.  However, Sigyn was planned for another niche: the small size and draught made her suited to use small remote harbours.

In her first decade Sigyn sailed on the Atlantic on tramp trade, mostly with wood (pine, spruce, pitch pine, mahogany, cedar), but also e.g. coal, probably sugar, once even hay. In 1897 she made one journey to Bangkok. After 1900 she sailed mostly in European waters.

After being severely damaged while seeking shelter outside Kristiansand 1913, Sigyn was rerigged as a barquentine. She was already old for being a softwood ship and the freight prices on ocean trade were declining, so a cheaper rig suited for coastal trade on the Baltic and North Sea seemed appropriate. This changed with the World War: transatlantic trade became very profitable and she crossed the Atlantic 12 times in 1915 and 1916.

After Sigyn ran aground in 1917 the copper hooding protecting against shipworm was removed and sold. Sigyn was thus no longer fit for the oceans. She was bought by Salsåkers ångsåg, a Swedish sawmill by the Gulf of Bothnia.

In 1927 Sigyn was sold to Finland, like many other sailing ships in these times, when steel and steam were taking over in richer countries. The buyer Arthur Lundqvist from Vårdö in the Åland islands was one of the last big peasant shipowners. The shipping companies of the family remain as Lundqvistrederierna.