[SEA - MARINE - Gift of Pomerania - situational photograph]. [l. 1930s]. Photograph form. 13,5x8,...

[SEA- MARINE - Gift of Pomerania - situational photograph]. [l. 1930s]. Photograph form. 13.5x8.3 cm, by Leonard Durczykiewicz in Gdynia.
A ship at sea. On the lower margin of the negative the inscription: "Dar Pomorza". On the back stamp: "Photographer L. Durczykiewicz, Gdynia [...]". Very good condition.
Dar Pomorza - "'Dar Pomorza' called 'White Frigate', has been associated with Gdynia since 1929. It was built in 1909 at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg as a German merchant navy training ship. After launching on September 18, 1909, it was named 'Prinzess Eitel Friedrich' and began service going out on its maiden voyage to Christiansand and Antwerp. After Germany's defeat in World War I, the ship was taken over by the French, moving it to the port of Saint Nazaire. In 1926 it was renamed "Colbert" and was to replace the French sailing school ship "Richelieu." This plan did not live to see fruition. A year later, the frigate passed into the ownership of Baron de Foreste, who intended to convert her into an ocean-going yacht, but this idea also failed to materialize. In 1929, the ship was purchased from public donations by the Pomeranian National Fleet Committee for the sum of 7,000 pounds sterling. It was intended to replace the already worn-out school barge "Lvov". The frigate was then given another name, "Gift of Pomerania," to commemorate the generosity of Pomeranian society. In June 1930 it stood in Gdynia's roadstead for the first time, and on July 13 Bishop St. Okoniewski consecrated the ship and its flag. The frigate was handed over to the State Maritime School in Gdynia and has since become the second (after "Lviv") "cradle of Polish navigators." During 51 years of service for the Polish Merchant Navy, the "Dar Pomorza" made 102 training voyages, traveling half a million nautical miles. On its board, 13,384 students of the Maritime School were trained. On August 4, 1982, the "Dar Pomorza" was formally withdrawn from service - at the same time the flag was raised on its successor, the "Dar Młodzieży," designed and built in Gdansk. November 16, 1982. "The 'Dar Pomorza' was handed over to the National Maritime Museum in Gdansk." (for: https://www.nmm.pl/dar-pomorza/historia-obiektu-dar)
L. Durczykiewicz (1876-1934) - passionate photographer. The owner of a modern and prosperous photographic establishment in Czempin, thanks to which he obtained funds to purchase an automobile to travel across Greater Poland. The fruit of the expedition became the monumental work "Polish Manors in the Grand Duchy of Poznan" published in 1912.