The Otto Smith shipyard in Stadskanaal built the Avontuur, baptized in Stadskanaal on April 16, 1920, as a light cargo ship for traffic at sea (mostly along the North Sea coast ) and on inland waterways. When it was no longer profitable to operate cargo sailing ships after the Second World War , she was used to transport passengers between the West Frisian Islands and the Dutch mainland.
In the fall of 2014, the ship was bought by Timbercoast Pty. Ltd. with headquarters in Cairns and taken to the Timbercoast location in Elsfleth , where it had undergone a general overhaul for 1.4 million euros by 2015. Since then, the Avontuur has been used as an excursion ship, as a sailing training ship and, on an experimental basis, as a light freighter to transport fair-trade coffee from Honduras. Particular attention is paid to an almost emission-free operation.
In February 2020 the "Avontuur" rescued 16 refugees from their damaged boat off the Canary Islands. Their boat drifts towards the Atlantic without any propulsion. At the time of the sighting by the "Avontuur", the rescued had neither water nor food on board.
