The ship was built in 1927 on the initiative of the owner Oluf Skjelbred from the Høivolds Mek shipyard . Verksted in Kristiansand was built from donations and named after Sørlandet , the southernmost of the five parts of Norway (Norwegian: Landsdel ). The sailing training ship traveled to many parts of the world; Among other things, it was the first Norwegian training ship to cross the Atlantic in 1933 with its voyage to the World Exhibition in Chicago (USA) . In 1940, the German seized the Navy the Sørlandet and transferred her to Kirkenes in northern Norway. The ship was there by a bomb the Allies sunk but lifted again from the Navy. It spent the rest of the war dismantled as a submarine depot ship .
The Sørlandet
After the war, the Sørlandet was returned to the owner in poor condition and repaired in Kristiansand . From 1948 to 1974 she went on many training trips again. Until 1958, the Sørlandet was sailing without an auxiliary engine. After lying at anchor off Arendal for three years as a semi-trailer from 1974 , the Skjelbreds shipping company took over the initiative for the sailing ship again and moved it to Kristiansand. The local foundation “Stiftelsen Fullriggern Sørlandet” acquired it in 1981, and since then Sørlandet has been traveling with paying fellow sailors. From her home port in Kristiansand she sails the North Sea in the warmer seasons and the Caribbean in winter. The Royal Norwegian Navy also uses the ship for training purposes.
