THE
SQUARE RIGGERS OF ZYGMUNT CHOREN ~'A
Subtle and Unmistakable Touch"
by Thad Koza In the fifties and sixties, when square riggers appeared to be an endangered species, and sail training associations and preservation guilds were formed to save and salvage existing vessels, the international fleet of Class A ships was actually increasi ng dramatically with the production of several shipyards. From the Spanish shipyard Astillieros Talleres
Celaya, SA, in Bilbao, came the vessels trans1t10n of the Lenin Shipworks to Simon Bolivar, Cuauhtemoc, Guayas, Pomeranka Ltd.-that is, from the SocialGloria and Corwith Cramer, while the ist subsidized institutions of CommunistJapanese company of Uraga Dockyard dominated Poland to the free-standing in Sumitomo produced the four-masted capitalist corporations of the nineties. sister barks Nippon Maru and Kaiwo¡ The first of a series of square-riggers Maru II. To these vessels can be added to come out of the Gdansk shipyard was the fleet of fifteen square riggers created the barkentinePogoria. Her smooth hull by the prolific Polish naval architect, lines appeared in 1980 and were followed by Orp Iskra, the sail training Zygmunt Choren. Zygmunt Choren was born in May vessel of the Polish Navy, and, finally, 1941 , in Brzozowy-Kat, Poland. He for- the oceanographic ship Oceania in 1985. With a stubby bowsprit and triple mally began his life-long commitment to ship design by pursuing academic masts without yards, Oceania defied clasdegrees at the Technical University of sification as a sq uare-rigger at the 1987 Gdansk and the Institute of Shipbuilding Baltic Tall Ships Rendezvous in Kiel, in Leningrad in the sixties. Since 1968 he has been associated with shipyards in "Efficiency ofa practicallyflawless kind Gdansk and has adapted to the uneasy may be reached naturally in the struggle for bread. But there is something beyond, a higher point, a subtle and unmistakable touch of love and pride beyond mere skill, almost an inspiration, which gives to all work that finish which is almost art-which is art." -JOSEPH CONRAD, Mirror of the Sea
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g The 175-ft barkentine Iskra, top, ofthe Pogoria class, built in 1982. The full-rigged ship Dar Mlodziezy ,pictured above, was built in 1982 to replace the revered Polish Naval training ship Dar Pomorza, and became the prototype for the five square riggers the Gdansk yard built for the Soviets: Mir, Druzhba , Khersones, Pallada andNadiezhda (which is completed but awaits delivery). At right , Zygmunt Choren, designer offifteen of the world' s newest tall ships.
SEA HISTORY 62, SUMMER 1992
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Germany. Although her hull has a familiar profile (she is a "sister" to Pogoria, Iskra and Kaliakra) her rigging and sailsetting hardware project the state-ofthe-art technology and innovative spirit of her designer, Zygmunt Choren. Her sai ls echo the Viking and Baltic fishing galleys of the 13th and 14th centuries; these "propulsion sails," with an efficient set of computerized blocks and winches, allow precise close-to-the-wind course setting, sailing efficiency, and a minimum of crew work. Appearing first on Oceania, these sails became prototypes for 1992's newest arrival, the sail-¡ ing crui se ship Gwarek. Perhaps the most important ship to be designed, built and completed in Gdansk was the Dar Mlodziezy, the full-rigged ship which replaced the revered and respected Dar Pomorza. TheDar Pomorza, the "white frigate," had been an historical and political symbol of the Polish sail training and leadership programs since 21