Cape Town - A sailor from the island-hopping tall ship, Bark EUROPA, is in hospital after being injured when the ship fell over while being placed back into the water from a dry dock at the V&A Waterfront.
This is the ship’s first capsizing incident in the Dutch ship’s 112 years of existence.
In a statement, the sailing company said the accident occurred during the ship’s maintenance period on Saturday, when the Bark EUROPA was finishing her Antarctica season.
The ship was expected to set sail from Cape Town on a 53-day ocean voyage up the Atlantic Ocean on June 13, to finish in Horta, the capital of Faial island of the Azores, Portugal.
“The extent of the damage to the ship is still being assessed, and at this moment we cannot determine the exact timeline for resuming our sailing operations. We want to assure you that our crew are working diligently to addressing and resolving the situation, to determine the necessary steps to move forward,” it said.
The company said its primary concern was to support the crew in Cape Town and work was being done to assess the damage in order to make a follow-up plan for its sailing schedule.
“We sincerely hope we can quickly restore EUROPA and continue our travels. At this stage we don’t know when that will be,” it said.
The company added that the injured sailor was receiving the appropriate medical care in hospital and was doing okay considering the circumstances.
“Such an accident has never happened before with Bark EUROPA. The situation is currently under investigation to analyse what is needed to get our lady EUROPA sailing again,” the company said.
The ship was built in 1911 to serve as lightship on the river Elbe in Germany and brought to the Netherlands in 1986 to be completely rebuilt as a barque (three mast rigged ship).
Since 1994 it was fully restored and has been roaming the seas of the world.
The Bark EUROPA is a special purpose sail training ship and sails with a voyage crew and permanent crew to remote islands and cities all over the world, for all who want to experience the adventure of sailing over the oceans on a tall ship – regardless of sailing experience.