Mercator (ship)

Geschiedenis

The barquentine Mercator was designed by the Antarctic explorer Adrien de Gerlache (1866–1934) as a training ship for the Belgian merchant fleet. She was named after Gerardus Mercator (1512–1594), Flemish cartographer. She was built in Leith, Scotland and launched in 1932.Besides being a training a ship, she was also used, mainly before World War II, for scientific observations, or as ambassador for Belgium on world fairs and in sailing events.In 1961, she became a floating museum, first in Antwerp, and finally from 1964 in the marina of Ostend, just in front of the city hall. As of 2013, she remained there in the heart of the city, open to visitors.SpecificationsMercator is a composite rigging. The foremast carries square sails, the main mast and the mizzen mast are rigged with fore and aft-sails. Usually the Mercator carried 15 sails with a total surface of about 1600 m². By fair wind she could easily make 13 knots.HistoryMercator's real career started off in 1934 when the ship sailed from Pitcairn Island, Tahiti, Papeete, to the Marquis Islands and Honolulu for a Belgo-French scientific expedition. This was her seventh cruise and known to be a fairly remarkable one to those preceding World War Two.In 1936 Ostend's Mercator had the great honor to bring over the remains of Flemish missionary and apostle of the lepers, Pater Damiaan's from Molokai island.