The Götheborg, which is the world’s largest ocean-going wooden sailing ship, and a replica of an 18th-century Swedish East India Company ship that sank outside Gothenburg in 1745, will be arriving in Malta tomorrow at 13:00. The ship will be in Valletta from 14–18 October, will be moored at Valletta Waterfront, and will be open to visitors during the stopover. Before mooring, the ship will salute the city with a gun salute which will be answered from Battery. The Götheborg is on its way to Asia, and Malta is the 12th stopover on the Asia Expedition 2022/2023.
The ship is on a two-year long expedition, the Asia Expedition 2022/2023. Following in the historic footsteps of the original ship from the 18th century, the purpose of the expedition is for people to be able to sail along and experience sailing an 18th century ship, for people to visit the ship in ports, and to promote trade relations in Europe and Asia. On each sailing about 50 members of the public can sail along as deckhands. The professional crew consists of about 20 professional sailors, which means that there is between 70–80 people on board for each sailing leg.
The ship will sail in Europe in 2022, stay in Barcelona during the winter, and continue to Asia in March 2023. In September 2023, the ship will reach the expedition’s end destination Shanghai. The Götheborg left Gothenburg 8 June 2022 and has since visited Helsingborg, Helsinki, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Oslo, London, Bremerhaven, Lisbon, Málaga, Nice and Monaco. Next stop after Valletta is Barcelona, the last stop on this year’s expedition.