Solway Lass is a two-mast

Mast (sailing)

The mast of a sailing vessel is a tall, vertical, or near vertical, spar, or arrangement of spars, which supports the sails. Large ships have several masts, with the size and configuration depending on the style of ship...

ed schooner

Schooner

A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....

. She was built in the Netherlands in 1902 and is currently operated out of Airlie Beach, Australia. She is being chartered for 3-day sailing holidays in the Whitsunday Islands

Whitsunday Islands National Park

Whitsunday Islands is a national park in Queensland, Australia, northwest of Brisbane. It has beautiful scenery and also has a few walks that are open to any one that camps on the islands. To camp on the islands visitors need to book a site....

.

History

The ship, originally named Stina, was built out of German steel with timber decking as a sail powered cargo vessel.

In 1905, she was sold and renamed Adolf, working in and around the Baltic

Baltic Sea

The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...

 and North

North Sea

In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...

 seas. In 1915, she was seized as a prize of war by the British Royal Navy and used as a Q-Ship

Q-ship

Q-ships, also known as Q-boats, Decoy Vessels, Special Service Ships, or Mystery Ships, were heavily armed merchant ships with concealed weaponry, designed to lure submarines into making surface attacks. This gave Q-ships the chance to open fire and sink them...

 during World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

. After the war, she worked as a coal, produce and stone carrying vessel between Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

 and Scotland. She was sold to a Scottish firm in 1924 in the Solway Firth

Solway Firth

The Solway Firth is a firth that forms part of the border between England and Scotland, between Cumbria and Dumfries and Galloway. It stretches from St Bees Head, just south of Whitehaven in Cumbria, to the Mull of Galloway, on the western end of Dumfries and Galloway. The Isle of Man is also very...

, where she was renamed Solway Lass.

When World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 broke out, the German Navy

Kriegsmarine

The Kriegsmarine was the name of the German Navy during the Nazi regime . It superseded the Kaiserliche Marine of World War I and the post-war Reichsmarine. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches of the Wehrmacht, the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany.The Kriegsmarine grew rapidly...

 seized Solway Lass and used her as a supply ship. She hit a mine

Naval mine

A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, an enemy vessel...

 and was badly damaged during the war; but she was repaired by the Germans to serve as a sail-powered icebreaker. After WWII, the Solway Lass served in the South Pacific as a cargo vessel. A Sydney businessman purchased her in Fiji in 1983 and rebuilt her. She took part in the 1st Fleet re-enactment of the Tall Ships in Sydney Harbour in 1988. Solway Lass was purchased in 1999 by Australian Tall Ship Cruises and sailed from Sydney to the Whitsunday Islands arriving in the Whitsundays in February 1999. After an extensive refurbishment Solway Lass went to sea as a live-aboard charter yacht providing three night cruises around the Whitsundays Islands.

In April 2002, the owners and crew of Australian Tall Ship Cruises celebrated with a 100th birthday for Solway Lass in the Whitsundays.