Prinz Valdemar

The Prins Valdemar was a 241' steel hulled schooner named after Prince Valdemar of Denmark. It was built in 1891 in Elsinore, Denmark along with its sister ship "Prinsesse Marie", as one of the last great ships of the sailing ship era. [Morten Hahn-Pedersen and Holger Munchaus Petersen: "Prinsen og prinsessen - to storsejlere fra Fanø", 1989, ISBN 87-87453-37-1 (in Danish)] It was based in Esbjerg, although registered on the nearby island of Fanø. [Morten Hahn-Pedersen and Holger Munchaus Petersen: "Omkring et skibsportræt - »Prins Valdemar« af Fanø", Sjæklen 1988 (Journal of the Fisheries and Maritime Museum, Esbjerg), p. 8-23 (in Danish)] The ship was sold to Norway in 1911 [ [http://wegeberg.dk/privat/peter/skibe.html] (in Danish, with picture)] and to the US in 1916. A model exists at the Customs Museum of Copenhagen. [ [http://lodsen.dk/Lodser.html] (in Danish)]

Miami harbor

It sank in the mouth of the turning basin of Miami harbor on January 10, 1926. The old Danish warship was on its way to becoming a floating hotel, during the heady days of the Florida land boom of the 1920's. [ [http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1990/4/1990_4_88.shtml The Tropical Twenties] ] Railroads had already begun raising shipping rates in response to the strain created by the population boom, and when the sea route to Miami was blocked the city's image as a tropical paradise began to crumble. Investors were seeing primarily negative press on Miami by 1925, and the rising prices that fueled the land boom stopped rising. The first Miami real estate bubble had burst.

References

*Johs. Bredmose Simonsen: [http://www.nielswinther.dk/Admin/Public/DWSDownload.aspx?File=Files%2FFiler%2Fa_shipping_company.pdf "Niels Winther & Co., A Shipping Company in Esbjerg"] , with picture of the ship.