The oldest sailing yacht

Probably the oldest sailing yacht in Poland is a vessel called “Złota Kaczka” ["The Golden Duck"]. Tjalk (22.5 meters long and 4.8 meters wide) was launched in Holland in 1903 as "de Drie Gebroeders" ["Three Brothers"].

It was a typical boat of the time. The vessels of that kind were the primary means of transportation for the Dutch, as they were easily operated, did not require numerous crew and they were famous for their reliability and efficiency. Their most advantageous feature was a huge capacity for cargo and their high speed potential. During the war "The Golden Duck" arrived in Poland. At the end of World War II the extremely tough construction of the boat proved useful, and it survived the Wehrmacht retreat from the shipyards in Płock. Its durable sheathing survived the many grenades thrown by the Germans. Other units were sunk in exactly this way.

In the 1940s “The Golden Duck” served as a floating museum, and an exhibition of artifacts from the Ethnographic Museum in Warsaw was presented on board. It travelled along the Vistula river, giving the local public access to the exhibition and collecting items related to the culture of the area. The boat also reached the Oder river, where it was made open to visiting Germans. After a while the idea of a museum was rejected and the boat was taken over by the state-owned enterprise "Żegluga na Odrze", using it as a base for divers.

After many ups and downs, "The Golden Duck" sank on the camping site called "Ślęża" and this is where she was found in 1990 by the members of the 25th Wroclaw Sailor Scouts Team. After securing the deck and performing some general maintenance work, the boat was capable of being used as a place of muster, warehouse and boat production and renovation workshop. During the severe flood of 1997, “The Golden Duck” served a special purpose when it became a base for the scouts, who used it to extend aid to the areas of Siechnice and św. Katarzyna.

In the winter of 2004/2005, severe ice resulted in the second sinking of "The Golden Duck". Fortunately, at the anchoring place, the water was only about 120cm deep, so the boat settled on the river bed which made it possible to pump the water out of it. After this event, the scouts from the Scouting Association of the Republic of Poland started raising funds to refurbish the boat, particularly as "The Golden Duck" had already been registered as technical culture monument.

Since 2009, “The Golden Duck” sails independently on inland waters and is open to the public.

based on: http://www.zagle.com.pl/artykul/czytaj/najstarszy-statek-zaglowy-w-polsce,8731