''Eye of the Wind'' is a brigantine built in 1911 at the C. H. Lühring shipyard in Brake, Germany, originally as a topsail schooner named ''Friedrich''.

History

''Friedrich'' was initially used as a schooner for the South American hide trade. In 1923 she was registered in Sweden, under the name ''Merry'', and was used for transport in the

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North sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the ...

s and for fishing herring off the coast of Iceland during summer. In 1969, then stripped of her masts and sailing as a motor vessel, she was severely damaged in a fire that almost destroyed her. In 1973 a group of sailing enthusiasts, including Anthony "Tiger" Timbs, who later became her Master, began rebuilding her at Faversham, England. In this restoration she was re-rigged as a brigantine by Master Rigger Wally Buchanan. After the restoration was completed she was given the name ''Eye of the Wind'', inspired by Sir Peter Scott's 1961 book. In October 1976 she set sail for Australia, the first voyage since the restoration, three years and eight months after her purchase by the new owners. In 1978, she set sail from Plymouth as the flagship of Operation Drake, a 2-year sailing expedition, which brought her back to London in December 1980. While under the care of Tiger Timbs the ship was commissioned for several film roles. During the filming of ''

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'', the film producers fitted her with a set of tan sails in order to be able to play two different ships. The tan sails were retained after filming.Crews records of sailing the ship
/ref> In 2001, she was taken over by a new owner and registered in

Gilleleje Gilleleje () is a fishing town and seaside resort on the north coast of the peninsula North Zealand, Denmark. The town is located at the northernmost point of the island of Zealand. It is one of the main towns of the Gribskov municipality in Re ...

, Denmark. Her interior underwent substantial renovations. Also, the new owners decided to call her rig a brig. This was only a change of naming, the rig remained the same since the filming of ''Tai Pan''. Again in 2009 she found a new owner with the Forum Media Group, Germany.

Published Books

*''Eye of the Wind'', by E. A. Mitchener (1984 Published by the author 1984, ) *''Eye of the Wind - Einem Traum auf der Spur'' (German), by Harald Focke and Ulf Kaack, 2014, Forum Media *''The Ship That Changed A Thousand Lives - over a century of history and stories'', published by Ina Koys, 2019 , Amazon only

Filmography

''Eye of the Wind'' has been used for several film and television roles. *'' The Blue Lagoon'' (1980) where the ship appears as the ''Northumberland''. *''

White Squall A white squall is a sudden and violent windstorm at sea which is not accompanied by the black clouds generally characteristic of a squall. It manifests as a sudden increase in wind velocity in tropical and sub-tropical waters, and may be a mic ...

'' (1996) as the '' Albatross''. *''

'' (1986) as the ''Morning Cloud'' and the ''White Witch''. *'' Nate & Hayes'' (1983) as the ''Leonora''. *'' Lost at Sea: The Search for Longitude'' (1998), an episode of the U.S. television series '' NOVA''.

References

External links

''Eye of the Wind'', by E. A. Mitchener''Eye of the Wind'' FamilyPresent OwnersVideo, on youtube, of the ship being sailed.
{{Oldest surviving ships (pre-1919) Schooners Ships built in Germany 1911 ships