| History |
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The Aldebaran was build in 1893 as a 2 masted inland sailing-vessel (a klipper). She transported cokes, potatoes and all kinds of cargo, mostly in bulk, over Holland, Germany and Belgium. In de second worldwar the ship was hit by allied fire in an air raid and sank in the harbour of Urk (on the IJsselmeer) as a last attempt to save the ship of her firing cargo. Till that day the ship sailed over the inland rivers and the Zuiderzee (now known as the IJsselmeer). It took the skipper some years to repair and convert the ship into a motored cargo vessel. The skipper and his family worked and lived on the ship untill the end of the '80s, when the skipper retired and enrolled the ship for scrapping. Luckely we were able to buy the ship of the former skipper and within a couple of years we restored the ship into here old shape as a glorious example of the inland sailing klippers. |
