The Swedish East Indiaman Götheborg is set to stop by in Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore on its way to China and back with its 2 year maiden voyage departing from Gothenburg expected to start in October 2005.
The recreated copy of the 18th century Swedish ship that once sailed the world’s oceans some 200 years ago is built by Svenska Ostindiska Companiet (SOIC) a company formed in 1993 to implement the plans to reestablish a copy of the historically foundered vessel.
During the voyage the ship will functions as a platform to promote international exchange in the fields of trade, investment, culture, technology etc, during port calls in Cadiz, Cape Town, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Hong Kong SAR. Götheborg is also scheduled to pass the Sunda strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra before arriving at the Port of Jakarta, capital of Indonesia. Later, the vessel will stop by at Malaysia and Singapore, which has one of the world’s largest ports, where the ship will stay there for 12 days. The voyage to China and back is expected to take about two years.
The history of the renowned ship dated back on 12 September 1745, when the former ancient ship headed for her home port after almost two years of exploring the world’s oceans, where it faced heavy storms and sank at the Gothenburg harbor with its entire cargo. Fortunately, all crews survived with various attempts to salvage the valuable cargo. However, Götheborg remained forgotten until 1984 when the Swedish Underwater Archaeology Society made a groundbreaking discovery of the ancient trading ship, where the idea of replicating the 18th century vessel came up.
When the ship was completed, it was launched to the public, where His Majesty The King Carl XVI Gustaf and Her Majesty The Queen Silvia together performed the naming ceremony of the Swedish East Indiaman Götheborg. The crowds presented in the ceremony were the citizens of Gothenburg, the Swedish government representatives and a large international delegation, many of which representing the ports of call on the ship journey to China, namely Canton, Shanghai and Beijing with the President Chen Haosu of China.
The Götheborg, with main dimensions, alignments, hull and rigging in conformity with the previous one, is expected to have its maiden voyage departing from Gothenburg in 2005 and will follow the traditional route before finally arriving at its end destination on the outbound voyage-China.
