Welcome to the Maritime museum in Loviisa!

The theme in the first room is the history of the age of sail in Loviisa, from the founding of the town, in 1745, until the last sailing ships were removed from the town’s shipping register in 1913. The room is to be viewed counterclockwise.

Kindly note that one QR-code includes a group of boards presented on the wall nereby the code. The number given in the headlines refers to the number mentioned on the QR-code plate. 

1. THE AGE OF SAIL IN LOVIISA

The war between Sweden and Russia (1741-1743) ended in the Treaty of Turku in 1743, and the eastern boarder of the Swedish Kingdom was moved to the westernmost fork of Kymi River. To protect the new border, a new town with a fortress was decided to build.

The town of Degerby was founded in 1745 to replace the staple port of Hamina, which was left on the Russian side of the boarder. Degerby town was also given the rights as a staple port – i.e. the right to engage in foreign trade – and the merchant shipping from Southern Finland to foreigh countries could continue. In 1752 Degerby town was renamed to Loviisa after the Swedish Queen Lovisa Ulrika.

Some of the eminent Hamina merchants, who had moved to Loviisa, owned three sailing ships with which they traded with Spain – these were named FINLAND, ENIGHETEN and FREDRIKSHAMN. The cargo to Spain and the Mediterranean ports consisted mainly of timber products, the return cargo was salt. Loading and unloading of the ships in Loviisa harbor was carried out onto the roadstead by using lighters.

But seafaring involves danger and all the three ships were wrecked within a few years of each other.

The age of sail in Loviisa reached its peak shortly before the Finnish War (1808 – 1809). The salt imports stood at record high and the number of registered sailors in Loviisa was as high as 260 at the time.

After the Crimean War in the 1850’s the town experienced a new peak in seafaring under sail, even if the use of steam engines as a power source was getting more common elsewhere. The three masted barques HELIOS and MAINIO did their last salt trips in the middle of the 1800’s and were thus the last ships of the town going to Spain.

The age of sail in Loviisa ended in 1913 with the ocean-going barques DOROTHEA and TJERIMAI, as the former was shipwrecked and the latter was sold.

1. TO THE WEST SEA 1745 – 1913

Ships sailing through the sound of Jutland in Denmark to the North Sea were said to be sailing to the West Sea. The board presents all these ships and gives a picture of the town’s sailing industry, which continued until 1913, and included more than 200 different sailing ships.

1. THE FRIGATE “GUSTAF III” (1772-1780)

A rare painting of the frigate “Gustaf III” in the sense that the crew is also depicted on board. The text in the upper corner reads: “The Frigate Ship of “King Gustaf III from Loviisa Anno 1774 commanded by Capit. Carl Ulric Synnerberg”. How many ship dogs can you find in the painting?

(The original painting is preserved at the city museum of Helsinki).

1. THE BRIGANTINE “WIGILANTIA” (1776-1803)

The punch bowl of Captain Sanderg

Inside the bowl there is a picture of a sailing ship and a text reading “Good luck to the Brigantine Wigilantia commanded by Captain Johan Sandberg from Loviisa”.

The brigantine Wigilantia had been built in the “Old Shipyard” in Loviisa during the winter of 1775-1776, and Captain Sandberg was one of her owners. The faience bowl was made in England, presumably in the Wedgewood factory, and the figure with the text were engraved in the workshop of Sadler & Green in Liverpool. The vast ceramic industry in England produced such souvenirs, popular among seamen.

In Porvoo museum there is a plate with Freemason related figure that has belonged to the same Captain. Punch bowls were used for serving popular wine mixtures, such as Punch. The bowl was donated to the Maritime museum of Loviisa by the Unonius family.

A lästi (or last) is an old unit of weight and volume formerly used in Finland and Northern Europe for maritime trade. This unit varied from time to time, and from place to place. In 1726 it was determined in Sweden-Finland that a ship last that was used to define cargo capacity equaled 18 ship-pounds of iron, which was roughly 2,448 kg. This definition was valid until 21st December 1865 when the official standard of 10,000 pounds equal to 4,250 kgs was established. In 1877 last was replaced by the register tonnage, according to which 1 ton equals 100 cubic feet (or 2,83 m3).