Ship profile for the sailing ship: "La Violante"

Technical data of the sailing ship:

Name:La Violante
Ex-names:Samsophie
Registered port:Port Vila
Nation:Vanuatu
Type of rigging:SCHONER
Year built:1922
Yard:Van Duijvendijk, Lekkerkerk, NL
Length:33.00 m
Breadth:5.48 m
Draught:2.43 m
Sail area:480 m2
Ship's hull:Eisen / Iron
Power:250 PS
Engine:General Motors GM V8

Portrait of the sailing ship:

Last update: 12 Sep 2007

  • originally built in Holland in 1922 as a leeboard ketch for the Belgian Charles van den Bussche, wine dealer from Antwerp, as a yacht, christened the "Samsophie", sailing for many years in the Mediterranean, sold to a Consul for Italy and survived the world war in Palermo, Sicily.
  • in 1953 the French Count Richard Dampiere purchased her and uses her as a private yacht.
  • 1965 purchased by the American Robert Hudson and change of the base port to Tarragona, SPA on the Mediterranean, converted into a fore-and-aft schooner and begin of a career for many years as one of the most successful charter vessels of the Caribbean.
  • Lying in Grenada in 1972 she was aquired by her fourth owner, the American Don Ellison, who sailed her to Florida and initiated a complete refit from 1973 to 1975.
  • In 1984 she completed a three year circumnavigation of the North and South Pacific logging more than 200 thousand miles.
  • used for film work, i.e. in the movies "Queen Emma of the South Pacific" and "Return to the Blue Lagoon" and in documentaries on the Melanesian Culture which were broadcast worldwide.
  • After spending many years cruising the Fiji Islands she ended up back in Dutch hands (Captain Fred Looijschelder and Christiana Kaluscha) in 1994, her new home is Vanuatu, and she is ready to sail to some of the most beautiful tropical islands of the world and explore remote unspoilt atolls accessible only by sea.
  • Since 1997 she has spent the summer season in Sydney available for charter on Sydney Harbour every year from mid of November to the end of April.
  • in November 2001 dismasted and severely damaged in a devastating thunderstorm with cyclonic winds 100 NM off the coast of New South Wales, Australia. purchased by V. Benson and B. Padman in Sydney, 2004. motored to Hobart, she was examined by nautical engineers who judged her unfit for commerical use due to the lack of thickness of the hull. Rot had also set in.
  • after it seemed that "La Violante" cannot be saved, in 2006 the owners began to restore her with the hope that she can return under sail again, relaunched in August 2007 at Clean Lift, Goodwood, Tasmania.

Literature for further reading:

We recommend the following references for your further research of the ship. The references marked with have been included in the generation of the ship profile on this page.

Ollivier Puget, Jean-Noël Darde
"Partir sur les Grand Voiliers - Le guide pour embarquer"
Guides Balland 2000 ISBN: 2-7158-1277-9
Page: 108 Source with picture Source with history Source with technical data Quelle with contact