Abraham Rydberg – In the Chops of the Channel

The 4-masted barque Abraham Rydberg pictured here about to take a tow, was one of the few sailing ships on the Australia run not owned by Gustaf Erikson. She was operated by the by the Abraham Rydberg Association, a Swedish sail training institute, which had two earlier vessels with this name. She was built in 1892 by C. Connell of Glasgow for A. Nelson of Honolulu, who named her Hawaiian Isles. She was sold to the Alaska Packers Association in 1909 and renamed Star of Greenland.

The Abraham Rydberg Association bought her in 1929. She had many features that allowed instant recognition even from a long way off. She was the only 4-masted barque in the grain fleet with single topgallants; she used a triangular mainsail and cro’jack on many occasions; she had a Liverpool house and was painted grey.

Abraham Rydberg regularly loaded grain in Spencer Gulf in the 1930s and always returned to Europe via the Cape of Good Hope. She sailed well into World War II and although owned by a neutral country she lived dangerously, trading between North and South America. Sold to a Portuguese company and renamed Foz do Douro she made several more voyages to the United States before being rigged down and fitted with an engine. I saw her in Sydney Harbour shortly after the war. She still had her lower masts which had cargo derricks mounted. She was still in Lloyds register in 1950 and was presumably broken up shortly after this.