About the Schooner MIRA

MIRA's history

MIRA was built as a two-masted schooner at Rasmus Møller's shipyard in Faaborg in 1898 by Niels Søren Hansen. He wanted a beautiful ship, and he got it. When MIRA was newly built, the ship was so fine that the family from Bogense Jernstøberi hired her for their first assignment and went on a holiday cruise in the summer of 1898. This makes MIRA Denmark's first charter schooner.

After the voyage, work began as a sailing cargo ship. This was before the time of trucks and big bridges, and skipper Niels "MIRA" Hansen, as he was called, and his deckhand sailed the inner Danish waters laden with all kinds of goods.

From 1898 to the end of the 1960s, MIRA sailed as a cargo ship in Scandinavia. MIRA entered service as a sailing passenger ship in 1974, to the delight of thousands of Danes.

In 2004, MIRA was purchased by Wilders Plads Ejendomme A/S in Christianshavn and has since sailed out of Copenhagen, into Denmark and neighboring countries with happy guests.

Deeper into history

Niels Søren Hansen and his deckhand lived a hard and frugal life at sea. They gathered berries and went hunting ashore to save on expenses. When Niels sold the ship, he went ashore and lived in his small house for the following years. The good old days did not exist at sea in the early 1900s.

Skipper Johannes Holm took over the ship from the builder and was given a heavy workload. This was made easier when he installed the first engine with a single cylinder and 16 horsepower in 1935. However, it often sat idle when the fuel shortage during World War II brought the sails back.

By the end of the 1940s, time was definitely running out for sailing ships, so MIRA was rigged down to only have one mainsail, and so she fought hard in the freight market until the competition finally killed off the small freighters.

After a few years as a stone fisherman, it was sold.

Engineer Claus Jacobsen fell in love with the ship and bought it in 1971 to re-rigg it. As a rebuilt sailing ship, MIRA sailed partly with happy charter guests and partly with young people who needed positive content in their lives.

In 1993, MIRA was damaged by a collision and had to be scrapped. It turned out that the ravages of time had been harder on Mira than expected. The chainsaw was started, leaving very little of the original ship behind.

"The MIRA Foundation of Copenhagen" was founded with the sole purpose of preserving this cultural and historical value for posterity. The Danish Ship Preservation Foundation, the Augustinus Foundation, the Tuborg Foundation, the Labour Market Holiday Fund, Louis Poulsen and others chose to support the restoration at EM Bådbyg in Gilleleje, which began in 1996.

In 1999, MIRA was ready to go into operation again as a charter ship with an appearance as when it was born. Only modified so that the ship meets the requirements set by the guests and the Danish Maritime Authority for comfort and safety.

Wilders Plads Ejendomme in Christianshavn purchased MIRA in 2004 and the ship today has a permanent location at the address Christianshavn Kanal 4, 1406 Copenhagen K.

John tells

Hear about shipping for sails and life on MIRA.