Words: Jonathan Wells
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Earlier this year, Gentleman’s Journal spent several heady, heritage-filled days aboard Haida 1929. A new type of timeless, we found a vessel seemingly plucked from the roaring twenties and dropped into the oceans of today. She may have been built in 1929 — but, after a dutiful and beautiful restoration at the prestigious Pendennis shipyard, she’s both bang up to date and available for charter.
Captain Daan de Witt
During our voyage, we had the pleasure of speaking with Captain Daan de Witt, who let us in on some of the lesser-known facts and secrets that Haida’s been hiding for the best part of a century.
“Haida was launched in 1929,” de Witt tells us in our very own mini documentary above, “for a guy called Max Fleischmann — and he named her for Haida, the Indian tribe in Colombia.”
Other facts that surfaced during our tour of the boat were that these are not only some of the few engines still running from the 1920s, but also the same engines used by German U-Boats in the First World War.
“When she’s sailing,” adds the captain, “she’s very different to any modern vessel, as when she’s running the engines, the leave some vibrations on the boat. That’s why people say it’s the only boat with a soul.”
Looking for something with a little more adventure? Why not step aboard Planet Nine…
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