Launch

The launch of the Dar Młodzieży took place on 12th November 1981 from the side of the C-1 Hull Assembly Workshop of Gdansk Shipyard. The ship’s godmother was Helena Jurkiewicz, wife of Kazimierz Jurkiewicz, the legendary longest serving captain of the Dar Pomorza.

From 30th June 1981, the day when the keel of the ship was embossed with the yard number B-95/1, to the completion of the build, 134 days had passed.

Its creation was the result of sustained efforts by those who recognised the need to replace the ageing Dar Pomorza, which was increasingly unable to satisfy the requirements of modern merchant navy officer training, with a new ship. As luck would have it, an order had been submitted to the then so-called Lenin Gdańsk Shipyard for five training vessels for USSR maritime schools. With a political decision having been taken, backing secured at the highest level, and a major publicity campaign underway, it was decided that the successor to the Dar Pomorza would serve as the prototype and pilot vessel for a series of tall ships intended for export. Once work on the project was completed, it was written that the sailing ship was built thanks to the efforts of the Polish youth on behalf of the Polish youth. 

The design of a type of ship that was unseen before in Polish shipbuilding was the work of Engineer Zygmunt Choreń, a junior ship designer at the shipyard in Gdansk and a sailor who had just taken part in regattas around the world. He was supported by veterans of the first ship named Dar, long-serving Ship Captain Kazimierz Jurkiewicz, the ship’s last Captain Tadeusz Olechnowicz (who would later go on to be the first captain of the Dar Młodziezy), as well as members of the crew of the ship known as the White Frigate. The new tall ship came into being on the basis of a well-considered and soundly reasoned concept.

The launch of the vessel took place at the time of the first Solidarność carnival. The blessing of the ship was performed by Father Henryk Jankowski, head priest of Saint Bridget’s parish, in which the shipyard was located: “ […] To the Captain and the crew of the Dar Pomorza who are now transferring to the new ship, students of the Maritime Higher School, and all those who will sail on her in the future – I wish as warmly as only a wife bids farewell to her sailor husband – safe travels. May every voyage bring with it renewed success! The entry into service of the new flagship of the Polish merchant fleet was greeted with the breaking of a bottle of champagne against its hull, the Polish National Anthem, and the sirens of vessels at rest in the shipyard basins.

A year later, on 4 July 1982, the Polish flag was ceremonially raised for the first time on board the frigate at the Pomeranian Quay in its home port of Gdynia, its permanent mooring place still today.