Suomen Joutsen SuomenJoutsen is a steel - hulled full rigged ship with three square rig ged masts . Built in 1902 by Chantiers de Penhoët in St . Nazaire , France , as Laënnec , the ship served two French owners before she was sold to German interest in 1922 and renamed Oldenburg . In 1930 , she was acquired by the Government of Finland , refitted to serve as a school ship for the Finnish Navy and given her current name . " Suomen Joutsen " made eight long international voyages before the Second World War and later served in various support and supply roles during the war . From 1961 on she served as a stationary seamen ' s school for the Finnish Merchant Navy . In 1991 , " Suomen Joutsen " was donated to the city of Turku and became a museum ship moored next to Forum Marinum . History . " Laënnec " ( 1902 – 1922 ) . In 1902 , the French shipping company Société Anonyme des Armateurs Nantais ordered two 3 , 100 - ton full rigged ships from Chantiers de Penhoët in Saint - Nazaire . The first ship , launched on 7 August 1902 , was christened " Laënnec " after René Laennec , a French doctor and inventor of the stethoscope . On 18 September 1902 she was followed by the second ship , named " Haudaudine " after Pierre Haudaudine , which was lost off the coast of New Caledonia on 3 January 1905 . On 23 October 1902 " Laënnec " left Saint - Nazaire and headed to Cardiff , England , to load coal bound bound for Iquique , Chile . " Laënnec " was almost sunk on her maiden voyage when she collided with an English steam ship " Penzance " in the Bay of Biscay , sinking the fully laden steamer within minutes . " Laënnec " , also seriously damaged , was towed to Barry for repairs . One of the reasons for the incident was that she was not carrying enough sailing ballast on her voyage from the shipyard , and as a result her rudder was not completely submerged in water , significantly reducing the maneuverability of the ship . Towards the end of the nine - month voyage , while carrying potassium nitrate from Chile to Bremerhaven , Germany , a minor mutiny broke out when four crew members disobeyed orders from Captain Turbé . In 1906 " Laënnec " was sold to a French shipping company Compagnie Plisson . She made several voyages across the Atlantic Ocean and around Kap Horn to the Pacific Ocean , and around the Cape of Good Hope to Australia under the command of Captain Achille Guriec . On her way back to Europe she carried wheat or potassium nitrate . On 12 December 1911 , while unloading potassium nitrate at the port of Santander , Spain , " Laënnec " was severely damaged when a storm pushed her against the pier and ripped the ship from her moorings , causing the full rigged ship to drift against a Dutch steam ship " Rhehania " . As there was no shipyard large enough to accommodate " Laënnec " in Santander , the ship was emptied and inclined until her damaged hull plating was exposed and could be repaired within the harbour . The repairs took 20 days and the ship , which by that time had become a popular attraction for the local people , left Spain on 1 February 1912 . In 1914 the main mast of " Laënnec " broke off and fell over the starboard side when the ship was struck by a heavy storm in the North Atlantic Ocean . She was towed to Brest for repairs . On 12 June 1916 Captain Guriec died onboard " Laënnec " while the ship was passing the Cape of Good Hope on her way back to Europe . The command was assumed by the first mate who , according to some sources , also perished before the ship arrived in England . Later the command was given to Captain Émile Delanoë . When the First World War broke out , " Laënnec " was equipped with two deck guns . Due to the presence of German U - boat s in Europe , the ship spent the war years trading in the United States East Coast . After the war , she arrived back to her home port , Saint - Nazaire , after a 150 - day voyage from Australia to be stripped and laid up . On 1 December 1920 " Laënnec " was put for sale . " Oldenburg " ( 1922 – 1930 ) . In late November 1922 , after having been laid up for two years , " Laënnec " was sold to a German shipping company H . H . Schmidt & Co . from Hamburg . After refitting she was renamed " Oldenburg " after the city of Oldenburg and , through an agreement with the German school ship association Deutscher Schulschiffverein , she became a school ship for the German merchant navy . Among the men who received their training onboard " Oldenburg " over the years was the German U - boat ace Günther Prien . In 1925 , while rounding Kap Horn , " Oldenburg " lost her main mast in a storm and had to seek shelter due to damaged rigging . After emergency repairs in Montevideo , Uruguay , she crossed the Atlantic and headed back to Hamburg . However , due to strong easterly winds she was forced to pass the British Isles on the northern side instead of the English Channel . 78 days after leaving the Río de la Plata estuary , " Oldenburg " was taken into tow by a German tugboat and towed to Hamburg . In 1928 " Oldenburg " was sold to another German shipping company , Seefart Segelschiffs - Reederei GmbH from Bremen . In 1930 , on her last voyage under the German flag , " Oldenburg " was almost lost when the cargo of phosphate shifted in heavy weather . After two weeks in a heavy storm , the longitudinal bulkhead gave way and the ship assumed a list of 55 degrees . Lifeboats , spare yards and the kitchen stove were lost overboard . However , the crew managed to righten the ship and sail her to Malmö , Sweden . After unloading the ship was moved to Bremerhaven to be laid up . " SuomenJoutsen " ( 1930 – ) . Acquisition and refitting . Although the school ship was left out from the Finnish Naval Act of 1927 , the Finnish Navy decided to keep looking for a suitable vessel and purchase it separately from the major fleet renewal program . Over the years , opinions both in favor and against a school ship had been presented , but it was generally agreed that such vessel would be in many ways beneficial for the Finnish Navy . Initially there was also disagreement about the type of the ship — some were in favor of a modern steam ship that could be used in the local waters while the others preferred a traditional sailing ship that would teach the cadets traditional seaman skills and bring them closer to merchant mariner s . The latter was also recommended by foreign naval officials , and finally the Finnish Navy agreed on a sailing ship . This was further helped by the Wall Street Crash of 1929 that had brought the prices down , and the fact that windjammers had been largely replaced by steam ships . In April 1930 , the Parliament of Finland allotted 4 , 000 , 000 Finnish markka s for procuring a second - hand full rigged ship and refitting it as a school ship for the Finnish Navy . During the summer of 1930 , the Finnish officials inspected a number of Finnish and foreign ships that were offered for sale . These included Gustav Erikson ' s four - masted barques " Pommern " and " Herzogin Cecilie " , and several other ships , but all were deemed either too large or too dilapidated . In the end , the most suitable candidate came from Germany where " Oldenburg " , a 28 - year - old former school ship of the German merchant navy , was offered for sale . After inspecting the ship in Bremen , the Finnish officials purchased her in August 1930 and the German crew sailed the ship to Helsinki . After having been handed over to the Finnish Navy , " Oldenburg " was towed to Uusikaupunki for refitting . The work , which began in late 1930 and continued until November 1931 , included replacing part of the bottom plating , building an additional tweendeck , refurbishing the rigging , painting the whole ship and rebuilding her cargo holds to accommodate up to 180 men . The shipyard was responsible for the structural alterations while 62 future crew members and cadets of the Finnish Navy were responsible for the other tasks , including carrying 1 , 200 tons of stones to the ship as sailing ballast . On 1 November 1931 , after a number of delays , " Oldenburg " was renamed " SuomenJoutsen " ( Swan of Finland ) after " Finska Svan " , a Swedish 16th century warship that took part in the naval action of 7July1565 between Sweden and Denmark . After launching , " SuomenJoutsen " broke her moorings in the strong breeze and damaged two ships , gunboat " Karjala " and " Osmo " , a laid - up full rigged ship built in 1869 , before she was brought under control . On 4 November 1931 , she left the shipyard for Helsinki , under tow and escorted by minelayer " M - 1 " . School ship ( 1931 – 1939 ) . Due to delays during the refitting and later problems with the steam heating system , the first voyage of " SuomenJoutsen " was delayed until late December . Captain Arvo Lieto proposed postponing the departure until the next autumn as Christmas was drawing near and the sea was already freezing , but on 21 December 1931 President P . E . Svinhufvud ordered the ship to begin her first international school sailing under the Finnish flag . " SuomenJoutsen " was towed to the sea on the following day , but she had to wait for favourable winds outside Porkkala until 28 December , at which point she had already been grounded once . The streak of bad luck continued when the ship was anchored in Trongisvágsfjørður in Suðuroy , Faroe Islands , after stopping to purchase more lubrication oil at Trongisvágur . " SuomenJoutsen " dragged her anchors in a storm measuring 11 – 12 on the Beaufort scale , drifting stern first towards the shore . After two trawlers and a tugboat managed to get the full rigged ship safely to the harbour , it was found out that the rudder had been damaged and the ship was towed to England for drydocking . After repairs , " SuomenJoutsen " continued to the Canary Islands , where she remained for three weeks while Captain Lieto was relieved of command and replaced by John Konkola , who served as the captain of the school ship for six full and two partial voyages . From the Canary Islands , " SuomenJoutsen " headed south , but the refrigeration system failed before the Equator and she had to turn back before a line - crossing ceremony could be held . However , the crew got some consolation when news about the end of prohibition in Finland reached the ship while she was sailing towards Finland in the Baltic Sea . " SuomenJoutsen " arrived in Finland on 22 May 1932 and was drydocked at Suomenlinna shortly thereafter . The second voyage of " Suomen Joutsen " began on 18 October 1932 , and after stopping briefly in the Canady Islands and Cape Verde , she crossed the Equator on 11 December for the first time flying the Finnish flag . On 24 December , the crew celebrated traditional Finnish Christmas outside Rio de Janeiro , Brazil , and arrived at the port on the following morning . The visit of " Cisne Blanco de Finlandia " , the white swan of Finland , was widely covered in local newspapers . From Rio de Janeiro , " Suomen Joutsen " continued her voyage to Montevideo , Uruguay , and then , against her original sailing plan , to Buenos Aires . After leaving Argentine and visiting a number of ports in the Caribbean , " Suomen Joutsen " crossed the Atlantic and finally arrived in Finland on 3 May 1933 . On the way back , her crew caught a number of sea turtles for the Helsinki Zoo . On her third international sailing , " Suomen Joutsen " left Helsinki on 1 November 1933 and headed to the Mediterranean , where she visited the ports of Marseille , Alexandria and Naples . While heading towards Gibraltar on her way to the Atlantic , an English steam ship tauntingly offered to tow the Finnish full rigged ship which was sailing slowly close to the wind . However , shortly afterwards the wind changed its direction and " Suomen Joutsen " overtook the steamer with a towing line hanging from the stern hawsehole , offering to provide assistance for the slower ship . After stopping briefly at the Canary Islands , the ship crossed the Atlantic and arrived in Haiti on 10 March 1934 after 25 days of sailing . The return voyage began six days later . On 6 April , while in the middle of the Northern Atlantic , " Suomen Joutsen " was hit by hurricane - force winds that caused the ship to list almost 56 degrees . She survived the worst storm of her career without major damage and arrived in Helsinki on 16 May 1934 . " Suomen Joutsen " began her fourth voyage on 30 October 1934 and arrived at her first stop , Cartagena in Spain , in late November . While sailing towards the Greek port city of Piraeus outside Sardinia on 7 December , she was overtaken by the Italian 51 , 000 - ton ocean liner SS " Rex " which passed " Suomen Joutsen " at full speed of from a distance of only . Although the holder of the Blue Riband was a sight to behold , seeing a full rigged ship underway in the open seas was also becoming a rare treat . After visiting various ports in the Mediterranean , the ship returned to the Atlantic and stopped briefly at Ponta Delgada , but crossed neither the Atlantic nor the Equator . " Suomen Joutsen " returned to Helsinki on 3 May 1935 . The fifth voyage of " Suomen Joutsen " was the longest the ship had ever done under the Finnish flag . After leaving Helsinki on 9 October 1935 , the ship stopped briefly at Lisbon , Portugal , and then continued across the Atlantic , eventually arriving in the Panama canal on 26 December . It took eleven and a half hours to transit the canal . After leaving Panama behind , " Suomen Joutsen " headed south and crossed the Equator on 4 January 1936 with appropriate ceremonies . Later the ship stopped at Callao in Peru and Valparaiso in Chile , where five men escaped after a local barkeeper had offered them full upkeep for playing at his bar . The men were later caught by local officials and returned to Finland , where they were sentenced for six months in prison . After leaving Chile , " Suomen Joutsen " sailed around the Cape Horn without major difficulties and arrived in Buenos Aires on 21 March . From Argentine , the ship continued to Rio de Janeiro , where she encountered the Brazilian school ship " Almirante Saldanha " , whose purchase had been inspired by the previous visit of the white swan of Finland . " Suomen Joutsen " sailed out on 14 April and due to heavy weather and headwinds , it took seven weeks to reach the Azores . On 9 May , Captain Konkola turned 50 and after the crew had sung " Happy Birthday to You " at 6 : 30 in the morning , he stuck his head out from the cabin door and yelled " Steward , give them booze ! " " Suomen Joutsen " arrived in Helsinki on 4 July 1936 . After a number of disagreements regarding the use of tugboats in the foreign ports , Captain Konkola decided to sail the full rigged ship all the way to the harbour , crossing the narrow Kustaanmiekka strait at full sail . Finally , when the bow had already been moored at Katajanokka , he allowed the tugboat to push the stern against the pier and the fifth voyage was over . On her sixth voyage , the most important stop of " Suomen Joutsen " was New York , where the ship arrived on on 3 March 1937 . Prior to this , the ship had visited Portugal , Senegal and a number of ports in the Caribbean after leaving Helsinki on 2 November 1936 . However , the ship ' s first and only visit to the United States under the Finnish flag was an important milestone and a major media event . When the ship was sailing up the Hudson River , an American film crew came on board to capture her arrival , and " Suomen Joutsen " remained the center of attention for the six days she was moored at the western end of the 35th Street . When the ship left New York , a member of the crew was accidentally left on the shore . However , he managed to talk a local tugboat captain to take him back to the school ship and , for solving the problem on his own initiative , was left without punishment . After stopping at Oslo , " Suomen Joutsen " arrived in Helsinki on the May Day of 1936 . Among the first people to leave the ship was a man carrying a living crocodile under his arm , captured for the Helsinki Zoo . The seventh voyage of " Suomen Joutsen " began on 20 October 1937 and took the ship first across the Atlantic to South America . After calling Montevideo , she continued east to Cape Town , stopping at Tristan da Cunha along the way . The seventh voyage has often been called the unluckiest one as three crew members were lost before the ship arrived back in Finland on 12 May 1938 . On 7 February , a seaman fell from the bow mast and was buried at sea on the following day . On the way to Cape Town , a sergeant became ill and later died in a hospital in South Africa on 10 March . On 10 May , a member of the regular crew fell to the sea while painting the hull when the ship was underway in the Baltic Sea . Many through that the deaths were due to the crew killing three albatross es earlier in the voyage . Finally , when " Suomen Joutsen " was outside Helsinki , a small airplane flew too close to the ship and crashed into the sea , but the pilots were rescued . " Suomen Joutsen " left for her eighth and last international voyage on 27 October 1938 . After stopping at Copenhagen for provisions and clearing the English Channel — and almost colliding with the Polish passenger ship " Piłsudski " — she continued to the Bay of Biscay . However , waves forced " Suomen Joutsen " to turn back on 23 November and head to Bordeaux to wait for the weather to clear . Captain Konkola , concerned about his ailing health , was relieved of his duty and replaced by Unto Voionmaa on 3 December 1938 . Under his command , " Suomen Joutsen " crossed the Atlantic twice , calling the ports of Pernambuco in Brazil and San Juan in Puerto Rico . On her last stop at Rotterdam , there were already signs of a major conflict in the air , and had the war started before the ship arrived in Finland , she would have headed to the United Kingdom . " Suomen Joutsen " arrived in Helsinki on 22 April 1939 , after which she never left the Baltic Sea again . Second World War ( 1939 – 1945 ) . During the summer of 1939 , the rigging of " SuomenJoutsen " was partially dismantled and her hull was painted dark grey . She was used as a supply ship for the Finnish submarine fleet within the Finnish archipelago . When the Winter War broke out on 30 November 1939 , she was stationed in Högsåra with the submarines and coastal defence ship s " Väinämöinen " and " Ilmarinen " . After three Soviet scout planes flew over the ships , the fleet moved hastily to another safe location near Nauvo only hours before eight four - engined enemy bombers overflew the previous anchorage . During the first weeks of the war , " SuomenJoutsen " was assigned to " moving supply depot " under the Archipelago Sea Fleet that consisted of the full rigged ship and a number of barges and tugboats . She served in this task until the Winter War ended with the signing of the Moscow Peace Treaty on 13 March 1940 . During the Interim Peace she was stationed in Naantali . When the Continuation War started on 25 June 1941 , " SuomenJoutsen " resumed her old tasks as a moving supply depot under the Archipelago Sea Fleet . Since the Finnish Navy now had a dedicated submarine tender , icebreaker " Sisu " , the former school ship was relegated to supply motor torpedo boat s . After the war ended on 19 September 1944 , " SuomenJoutsen " was used as an accommodation ship in Turku . During the war , around 150 men were stationed on " SuomenJoutsen " . The ship was lightly armed with only two machine guns and around 40 rifles . She survived the war largely intact , with only minor shrapnel damage from Soviet air raids . After the war ( 1945 – 1961 ) . After the war , " SuomenJoutsen " participated in the demining of the Finnish coastal waters , for which purpose she was fitted with an engine repair shop and a sauna for the crews of the minesweepers . She served in this task until the mine clearance was finished in 1948 , but was afterwards used as an accommodation and supply ship for different branches of the Finnish Navy . In 1955 – 1959 she was stationed in Upinniemi . While " SuomenJoutsen " served as a supply ship for the minesweeping fleet , her crew rebuilt the rigging dismantled before the war and the school ship spent a couple of days sailing in the Baltic Sea in late 1948 . Although there were plans to reactivate her as a school ship for either the Finnish Navy or the Finnish Merchant Fleet , or both , there were issues with her naval ensign — as a naval school ship she would not be allowed to carry cargo or be crewed by civilians , but a civilian flag would force her to pay expensive harbour fees . There was also no longer need for a civilian full rigged school ship . In 1949 – 1951 , " SuomenJoutsen " conducted a number of short training and promotional sailings in the Baltic Sea , but never ventured further than the southern tip of Gotland . Although everything was ready for the first post - war school sailing , President J . K . Paasikivi was against the voyage — sailing a full rigged ship so soon after the war while the Finnish war reparations to the Soviet Union were still being paid was deemed too flamboyant . Interestingly , it was Paasikivi who , as the director of the Finnish Export Society in the 1930s , had been one of the major supporters of " SuomenJoutsen " . The danger of stray naval mines had also not completely disappeared . In 1961 , the Finnish Navy purchased HMS " Porlock Bay " , a " Bay " class frigate , as the new school ship . Seamen ' s school ( 1961 – 1991 ) . In the late 1940s , the Finnish Seamen ' s Union proposed the Finnish government that " SuomenJoutsen " should be turned into a stationary seamen ' s school . As nothing happened , the Union renewed its proposal with a different tone in the late 1950s when it learned that the government was planning to sell the old full rigged ship for German scrap dealers and , in fact , the first payment had already been made . The Union gave its ultimatum on 29 April 1959 and when the government did not react , the crews of the inspection ships under the Finnish Maritime Administration went on a strike on 2 May . Before the action could spread , the government acceded and it was agreed that " SuomenJoutsen " would be stationed in Turku . However , due to intentional delays nothing happened until Niilo Wälläri , the leader of the Finnish Seamen ' s Union , presented his final ultimatum on 13 January 1960 : if the preparations to turn " SuomenJoutsen " into a seamen ' s school did not begin immediately , the Finnish state - owned icebreakers would go into strike on 15 January , effectively stopping all foreign trade . Two days later , icebreaker " Sampo " began towing the former school ship through the icefields towards Turku , where the convoy arrived on 17 January 1960 . This was also one of the last missions of the old steam - powered icebreaker before she was decommissioned and sold for scrap . " SuomenJoutsen " was rebuilt again in 1960 – 1961 and most of her interior was converted into classrooms , workshops and student accommodation — only the captain ' s salon remained in its original shape . Two new classrooms were also built on the deck , slightly altering the appearance of the vessel . The first classes were held on 1 March 1961 , and on 4 May the school was officially opened . On the same day , the naval ensign was replaced with the civilian flag . " SuomenJoutsen " served as a seamen ' s school for 27 years , during which time 3 , 709 students received their basic training on board the full rigged ship . In the 1980s , the facilities on board the school ship were becoming too small and increasingly obsolete , and there were talks about closing the school by the end of the decade . There was also discussion about turning " SuomenJoutsen " to a museum ship . The school closed its doors in 1988 and three years later " SuomenJoutsen " was handed over to the city of Turku . Museum ship ( 1991 – ) . " SuomenJoutsen " has been open to the public since 1991 . She is one of the largest museum ships in Finland , slightly shorter but bigger by gross register tonnage than the four - masted barque " Pommern " in Mariehamn , Åland , and considerably bigger than the wooden barque " Sigyn " which is moored next to her . " SuomenJoutsen " was moved from her original location next to Forum Marinum in 2002 . Her extensive renovations since the late 1990s included drydockings in 1998 and 2006 . Since 2009 she has hosted a permanent exhibition about her career . On 25 July 2001 , " Suomen Joutsen " received minor damage when the 1938 - built steamer " Ukkopekka " collided with the museum ship . However , the damaged shell plating and frame were above the waterline , so the ship was in no danger of sinking . In 2006 Pekka Koskenkylä , the founder of Nautor , revealed that the " Swan " line of luxury sailing yachts was named after " Suomen Joutsen " . International voyages under the Finnish flag . During her time as the school ship of the Finnish Navy , " SuomenJoutsen " carried out eight long sailing voyages in 1931 – 1939 . Although her rigging was refitted for sailing after the Second World War , she was only used for short voyages in the Baltic Sea until her retirement . An exhibition prepared by the Finnish Export Society was carried on three voyages . General characteristics . " SuomenJoutsen " is a steel - hulled full rigged ship with three square rig ged steel masts . Both main mast and bow mast have six yards , the longest ones being long and weighing four tons , while the mizzenmast has five yards . The height of her main mast , which consists of three parts , is from the waterline . The sail area of " SuomenJoutsen " is and three sets of sails , each weighing three tons , were carried on training voyages . Her standing and running rigging consist of over of manilla ropes and steel cables . The typical sailing speed of " SuomenJoutsen " was around , but once in the North Sea she reached a record speed of with only topsails and the foresail . The overall length of " SuomenJoutsen " is . Her hull is long at the waterline , has a beam of at midship and depth of to main deck . When she was carrying cargo , her tonnage was 2 , 393 register ton s gross , 1 , 734 register tons net and 3 , 100 tons deadweight . The ship drew of water when loaded , but as a school ship she sailed with a ballast draft of only . With 1 , 200 tons of stones as sailing ballast , her displacement was 2 , 900 tons and metacentric height . Later some of the stone ballast was replaced with concrete and iron . Internally her hull was divided into five watertight compartments . When " SuomenJoutsen " was converted to a school ship for the Finnish Navy , her general arrangements were changed considerably in order to accommodate up to 180 men on long international voyages . In addition to living quarters , bathrooms and toilets , this included building kitchens and six refrigerated rooms for provisions , workshops for a carpenter , shoemaker and tailor , laundry room , hospital with ten beds and a small isolation ward , classroom , library , canteen , and more storage space for sails , ropes , paint , sand and coal . Nine freshwater tanks with a total capacity of 206 tons were also built , but in order to conserve water a traditional Finnish sauna was not provided . Instead , hot steam could be diverted into the washing rooms under the forecastle . Originally built without auxiliary propulsion , " SuomenJoutsen " was refitted with two Skandia hot bulb engine s , each producing 200 hp , coupled to three - bladed fixed pitch propellers . The twin - shaft propulsion arrangement was very uncommon at that time . In practice the engines were found out to be underpowered , but they could still be used to assist manoeuvering in ports and in heavy weather . Two generators ( 5 kW and 8 kW ) were added to produce electricity for about three hundred lights . While " SuomenJoutsen " had a steam boiler for central heating , she did not have steam winches — anchors and yards were lifted using a manual capstan .