Kalmar Nyckel
The Kalmar Nyckel (Key of Kalmar) was a Dutch-built armed merchant ship famed for carrying Finnish and Swedish settlers to North America in 1638 to establish the colony of New Sweden. A replica of the ship was launched at Wilmington, Delaware, in 1997.
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[edit] History
The Kalmar Nyckel was constructed in about 1625 and was of a design called a pinnace. The ship was named after the city of Kalmar, which purchased the ship in 1628 as its contribution to the Royal Swedish Navy. When Sweden decided to establish a trading colony in the New World under the direction of Peter Minuit, the Kalmar Nyckel was chosen for the voyage. A smaller vessel, the Fogel Grip (Griffin Bird), accompanied her.
The ships sailed from Gothenburg in December 1637, commanded by Jan Hindriksen van der Water, but encountered a severe storm in the North Sea and had to divert to the Netherlands for repairs. They departed on New Year's Day 1638, arriving in North America in March 1638.[1]
A second voyage, which departed on February 7, 1640, and arrived at Fort Christina on April 17, brought additional settlers for New Sweden. One of them was Reorus Torkillus, the first Lutheran clergyman in New Sweden. The Kalmar Nyckel made four successive round trips from Sweden, a record unchallenged by any other colonial vessel. She later served the Royal Swedish Navy in the Swedish-Danish War, then was used as a merchant ship. She was lost at sea in the late 17th century. There are conflicting reports on where she was lost. One says she sank off the coast of the city of Kalmar, while another says she was lost in the North Sea off the coast of England.[2]
[edit] The modern Kalmar Nyckel
In 1986, a group of citizens of Wilmington, Delaware, established the Kalmar Nyckel Foundation, whose primary source of funding is from the taxpayers of the State of Delaware, plus donations from corporations and individuals. The foundation designed, built, and launched a replica of the Kalmar Nyckel. The modern ship, designed by naval architects Thomas C. Gillmer, Melbourne Smith, Joel Webster, and Ken Court, was built at a shipyard in Wilmington on the Christina River near the original 1638 Swedish settlers' landing site at Fort Christina. She was launched on September 28, 1997, and commissioned on May 9, 1998. The re-creation measures 94 feet (29 m) on deck and 131 feet (40 m) overall, with a 25-foot (7.6 m) beam, a 12-foot (3.7 m) draft, and a displacement of 300 tons.[3]
The ship is operated and maintained by a volunteer staff, under the leadership of a paid captain, boatswain, and a chief mate. In November 2006, the captain of the Kalmar Nyckel, David W. Hiott, who had commanded her for nine seasons, died from the effects of recurring melanoma. Captain Lauren Morgens took over on April 1, 2007, with Sharon Litcofsky as Chief Mate and Relief Captain. Volunteers maintain the ship, run the education program, and sail her from port to port.[4]
[edit] Symphony
In 1986, composer Benjamin Lees was commissioned to write a symphony to honor the founding of Wilmington, Delaware. Lees named the resulting work Symphony No. 5: Kalmar Nyckel. The piece was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2003, following release of a recording by the German orchestra Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz.[5]
[edit] Ship's Cats
Toolbox is the senior ship's cat and officially a warrant officer with the title of 'Captain's Assistant.' The offspring of a feral cat, she was born in a toolbox while the ship was under construction in 1997. She has always lived on the ship and therefore has the greatest accumulated sea time of any member of the crew. A celebrity in her own right, she is the star of two books. In addition, a number of other cats have served with the Kalmar Nyckel at various times, including Clew Garnet, Lagan, and the current junior ship's cat, Timmynocky (a word unknown in Swedish, but said to mean 'thingamabob')[clarification needed].
[edit] See also
- Måns Andersson
- Ship replica (including a list of ship replicas)
- Götheborg (ship), a sailing replica of an 18th-century Swedish East Indiaman
[edit] References
- ^ Johnson, Amandus (1911). The Swedish Settlements on the Delaware, 1638–1664. Philadelphia: Swedish Colonial Society.
- ^ Henderson, John R. (2007-09-05). "A History of the Kalmar Nyckel and a New Look at New Sweden". Ithaca College. http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/kalmar.html. Retrieved 2010-02-01.
- ^ "The Kalmar Nyckel Ship Specifications". Kalmar Nyckel Foundation. http://www.kalmarnyckel.org/aboutshipspecs.asp. Retrieved 2010-02-01.
- ^ Weslager, C. A. (1989). A Man and His Ship: Peter Minuit and the Kalmar Nyckel. Wilmington, Del.: Kalmar Nyckel Foundation.
- ^ Fox, Margalit (2010-06-07). "Benjamin Lees, 86, Versatile Classical Composer". New York Times: p. A-19. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9906E6D61E3EF934A35755C0A9669D8B63.
[edit] Other Sources
- "Kalmar Nyckel: Delaware's Tall Ship". TheBrandywine.com. 2008. http://www.thebrandywine.com/attractions/kalmar.html. Retrieved 2008-11-09.
[edit] External links
Coordinates: 39°44′13″N 75°32′12″W / 39.736878°N 75.536786°W
