History of Schoener Tijgerhaai: The War Tug that became an Sailing ship
The Tijgerhaai started life in 1944 at the Central Bridge Company in Trenton, Ontario, Canada. At the time she was named CT78.
Central Bridge Company Built 156 of the 265 identical TANAC Tugboats Constructed during WWII. They called these Tugboats Canadian Tugs, Nicknamed TANAC's.
Every time a couple of them had been launched, they would cross Lake Ontario and sail via the canals to New York City, where they were lifted onto a merchant ship and shipped all across the Commonwealth.
Many TANAC tugs were transferred to European inland waterway authorities after the war.
This one ended up in Strasbourg, France in 1946, and they called her ONN203. Later she would be renamed Fecht, after the river La Fecht, a tributary of the Ill in Alsace.
She did tug services on the Rhine for 2 different french companies until 1965, after which she was sold to the Dutch tugboat company Polderman. This was when she was renamed Tijgerhaai, or Tigershark in Dutch.
After 10 years she was put it up for sale with a wrecked engine.
In 1975 my dad and grandpa bought the ship and started the mayor conversion from Tugboat to Sailing Ship. Using grandad's savings, and with the help of some friends.
The rebuild was planned to take 2 years. That turned out a bit optimistic, but in 1989 the ship was ready to go around the world.
From 1990 until 1994, Schoener Tijgerhaai, or Schooner Tigershark, circomnavigated the world.
Taking the route trough the Panama Canal, around the south coast of Australia, and around Cape of Good Hope.
Since she came back from her 4 year trip around the world in 1994, the ship has been mostly idle. Until december 2022, when we started a second major rebuild to get the ship ready for new adventures!