Kalmar Nyckel crew readies for spring sailing

You can’t cobble up in a book all of what Captain Lauren Morgens and the 20-plus crew members who will be traveling abroad the Kalmar Nyckel for several months have learned from being on the ship.

“The purpose for our existence is an educational platform,” said Morgens.

This sailing season is the 13th for the ship, which was built in 1998 as a replica of the original Swedish vessel that traveled to the New World in 1638 to establish settlement in Wilmington, then the Colony of New Sweden.

“That’s the reason during the winter training season we spend so much time scrapping, sanding and all of that stuff,” Morgens said as she stood atop the quarter deck, looking out over the river.

Around her crew members were rigging — fixing thick ropes to go around yards, the long wooden bars that sit up high on the ship. Outside the ship, a crew member was painting and inside others were dusting down wood and painting metal to fit on the carriages of the six-pound cannons.

For the summer tours alone, the Kalmar Nyckel will make multiple stops for ship tours in Wilmington and Lewes as well as stops in Virginia, Massachusetts and New England. Crew members also will take visitors out on three-hour sailing tours and participate in festivals with other replicas of historic vessels along their journey.