Name Ethel von Brixham

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.