Herzogin [Duchess] Cecilie, 3242 tons, was orginally built to the order of the North German Lloyd Steamship Co. as a sail training vessel for their officer cadets. Constructed for Norddeutscher-Lloyd by Rickmer in Bremerhaven and launched in 1901, she was 324 feet long, with a 46 foot beam. Designed as a four-masted steel barque, she was a 'lofty' ship and carried 37,000 square feet of canvas when all thirty-six of her sails were set. From the outset, she proved to be a very fast ship and rapidly became the pride of the German Mercantile Marine. Caught in Coquimbo (Chile) when war broke out in 1914, she was bought for #4000 by Gustav Erikson of Mariehamn (Finland) who put her to work on long-haul trading voyages, many of which were extremely profitable thanks to her speed. She won the annual 'Grain Races' from Australia eight times in succession, and in 1931 sailed a remarkable 365 miles in 24 hours, at one point logging 20¾ knots. Her glorious career as the most famous sailing ship of the twentieth century came to an end when she was wrecked on the South Devon coast on 25 April 1936, after running ashore in thick fog.