Lady of Avenel’s History

Lady of Avenel was originally named Wytske Eelkje and along with her sister ship Willem, was built by Dutch boatbuilder, Frank Flaum in 1992. Flaum rescued the steel hulls, originally fabricated in 1969, from a Russian tug fleet and set about turning them into the brigantine riggers that they are today.

The two sisters sailed the Dutch Coast and the Baltic Sea between 1992 and 2012 as passenger charter vessels before Willem was sold to a French owner and the Wytske Eelkje was bought by Jim and Stefan and subsequently re-named Lady of Avenel.

The original “Lady of Avenel” was actually built-in Falmouth in 1974 as a coastal trading ship and was owned by Wilfred Dowman who went on to save and restore the Cutty Sark. Being ship surveyors and naval engineers, both Jim and Stefan worked for the Royal Museums Greenwich on the restoration of the Cutty Sark and they decided to rename their ship after Dowman’s ship. And so Wytske Eelkje became the next Lady of Avenel.

Stefan and Jim then set about to sail and repair, restore and rebuild her over the next 5 years. They now have all the running machinery and the domestic systems replaced and most of her rig has been restored or replaced. They have since spent their sailing season on the west coast of Scotland and racing with friends in Holland and are now ready to offer our guests a hands-on tall ship sailing experience.