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Freya (ex - De Nederlander, ex -
Westerschelde)
Operating Area : Kiel
canal and lower Elbe, Germany
Above : Freya in 2019. Photo by kind courtesy of Malcolm Oliver
Built in 1905 by J & K Smit, Kinderdijk,
Netherlands
Engines : Compound horizontal (180 HP built 1926 and fitted second hand in 1989-90
and
auxiliary 300 HP diesel/screw engine fitted at rear)
Length : 51.6 metres x 11.4 metres
Passenger Capacity (2013) : 250
Built for service out of
Vlissingen on the Westerschelde and named Westerschelde
Originally fitted
with a triple diagonal engine developing 600 HP
Used on occasion as a "royal yacht" by Queen Wilhelmina
Sold to the De Klok shipyard at Terneuzen in 1933 and in 1935 on to
Mr Zwaans of Oosterhout for use as a bunkering station and renamed De Zwaan
Bought in 1988 by Mr Klemens Key, whose father Wijnand Key had
earlier bought Reederij op de Lek 6 for restoration
Restoration started in 1989 at Zaandam, with a second-hand compound
steam engine from a dredger dating from 1926 and boiler dating from 1967
In service as De Nederlander in 1990 for the Nederlands
Raderstoomboot Maatschappij, for charters around the Rotterdam Docks
and to Hook of Holland
Sold in December 1999 to the Insel- und Halligreederei Company (Adler-Schiffe) a
List-based ferry operator
owned by Mr Sven
Paulsen and renamed Freya
From November 2000 has been based at Kiel and operates services on the Kiel
canal and the Kieler Foerde, but also occasionally out of Hamburg and Rostock.
Above : A sequence of views taken in July 2024 of
Freya returning to Kiel after a lunch cruise. Photos by kind courtesy
of Phil Barnes : Click here for more
Aboard Freya in 2019 : by Malcolm Oliver
Click here for more
Above : As De Nederlander on 25th May 1990 near
Alblasserdam on the River Noord whilst sailing from Dordrecht to Rotterdam
Photo
courtesy of Hubert Kraaivanger
MORE PHOTOGRAPHS
Photos
taken in 2011 by Enrico Crosti
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