The Baltic trader Kommandoren may be nearly 120 years old but, according to Harry Simpson, of Mackay”s Boatyard in Arbroath, the grand old lady of the seas is in excellent shape for her age and more than capable of racking up at least another century of service.
The twin-masted vessel, which is in a slipway cradle berth at the boatyard, is having some relatively minor maintenance work done. Those working on her have been pleasantly surprised by her condition.
Launched in Denmark in 1891, the lovingly-restored Kommandoren is owned by Aberdeen’s Hays Ships Ltd, for whom she fulfills the twin roles of corporate figurehead and promotional symbol.
Her “retirement” job is a far cry from the Kommandoren’s active working days, when she would have been used to transport everything from coal to salted fish between the Baltic Sea ports from the late 19th century, well into the 20th.
When she was rediscovered by Hays Ships founder Eric Hays Thogersen in the early 1970s, she had fallen on hard times, reduced to dredging for stones for the construction sector, so he bought her and had her restored.
Hays Ships operates a global fleet of modern research and survey vessels. The Kommandoren is used for corporate hospitality and to give young officers a taste of life before the mast as it used to be.