After WWII the Danish fleet of coastal cargo vessels needed replacement - new ships. Many ships were lost during the war and others were absolutely not up to date. Especially the old wooden sailing ships with auxiliary engine were far from handy.
Therefore a number of sister ships of 149 brt/240 tdw were built in the 1950’s. They are called “Caroliner” from the first ship the CAROLINE.
Twenty three of those fine small coasters were built, 20 of them at H.C. Christensen’s Shipyard in Marstal. A few of these vessels still exist, one of them is M/V SAMKA of Marstal, built at H.C. Christensen 1956. She belongs to “Museumsforeningen til bevarelse af M/S SAMKA” in connection with Marstal Maritime Museum and the crew consists of sailors manning her as volunteers. She mostly trades with exhibitions and a few times with project cargo.
Source: Erik Kromann
Museum info: Marstal Søfartsmuseum
Address: Prinsengade 1, 5960 Marstal, Denmark
Phone: +45 62 53 23 31