The Mercator is the fifth training ship of the Belgian merchant navy, which began its career as a training ship in 1932 and ended it in 1961. It is named after the famous geographer Gerardus Mercator, the inventor of Mercator projection maps.
Galerie photos
Gary Houston Ghouston 22:28, 20 May 2005 (UTC), CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
History
The Mercator, built in Scotland in 1931 to replace the training ship L’Avenir, made its maiden voyage on September 5, 1932. Each year, it trained around fifty apprentice officers during a four-month winter voyage in the Atlantic, followed by a three-month summer cruise. In 1934-1935, it took part in a scientific expedition to Easter Island, bringing back the statue of the “god of Tuna.” In 1936, it brought back to Belgium the body of Father Damien, who died in Molokai in 1889.
During World War II, the Mercator sailed under the British flag and returned to Belgium in 1947 in poor condition, setting sail again in 1950. It won sailing races and participated in the first international regatta in 1956. Since 1961, it has no longer trained young officers, but as a tourist attraction in Antwerp and Ostend, it attracts around 130,000 visitors a year. Although prohibited from sailing on the high seas, it sometimes engages in coastal shipping, participating in special events such as the centenary of the Duchesse Anne in Dunkirk in June 2001 and the gathering of tall ships in Zeebrugge in August 2002 when Bruges was designated the European Capital of Culture.
