Registration number 2705
Status Archived
adminnhs

Previous names

  • Lily & Ethel
  • Lillie & Ethel
  • Salvoy
  • Bass
  • Lonning
  • Ethel

Details

Function Fishing Vessel
Subfunction Trawler
Location Kiel
Vessel type Trawler - Brixham
Archive reason Overseas Watch List
Current use Commercial Activity
Available to hire Yes
Available for excursions Yes
Web address www.ethel.de

Construction

Builder Upham, J W & A, Brixham
Built in 1890
Hull material Wood
Rig Schooner
Number of decks 1
Number of masts 2
Propulsion Motor
Number of engines 1
Primary engine type Diesel
Boiler type None
Boilermaker None

Dimensions

Length: Overall
95.14 feet (29.60m)
Breadth: Beam
16.40 feet (5.83m)
Depth
6.56 feet (2.90m)
Air Draft
78.74 feet (24.00m)
Tonnage: Gross
49.00

History

Built in 1890 in Brixham at the shipyard of J & W Upham, originally as LILY & ETHEL.  She fished from Lowestoft in the North Sea fisheries for her first two years.  In 1906 she went to Sweden, and was subsequently used as a fishing vessel in Bohuslan, Norway, until 1927, when bought by the Sævlandsvik Partrederi in Kopervik, Norway and renamed SALVØY.  She fished from Norway for several decades. 

By 1981 she was in Germany, being converted by then owners Eckhard Clemens and Annette Pipahl from a motor vessel to an oceangoing staysail schooner.  She has been registered in Kiel, Germany, since 1986, and has sailed the Baltic ever since, used for weekend trips, week-long voyages, and day trips.  In 2011 the rig was changed to be more like the original Brixham trawler.  The high-rigged mainsail was retained, the fisherman and staysail (both between the masts) were replaced by a gaff sail, and the jib was made smaller and designed as a boom jib.

In regular service, the ship has cabins for up to 12 crew, and on day trips she can accommodate up to 35 passengers. Her name has changed numerous times over the decades, from her original name of LILY AND ETHEL; then LILLY AND ETHEL; SALVØY; BAS; LØNNING; ETHEL; and finally ETHEL VON BRIXHAM, named in 1996 by her current owners. 

ETHEL has appeared on screen in the German language 1997 film adaptation of the Gunter Grass novel The Rat, and more recently in the Guy Ritchie film The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (2024). 

In January 2025, the vessel was reported laid up in Kiel and at risk of being broken up.

Update, February 2025: Vessel for sale.

Key dates

  • 1890

    Vessel built by J & W Upham in Brixham

  • 1906

    Vessel went to Sweden and was subsequently used as a fishing vessel in Norway

Own this vessel?

If you are the owner of this vessel and would like to provide more details or updated information, please contact info@nationalhistoricships.org.uk

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