It’s a sight you don’t see every day: A 40-metre (134-foot) tall, 84-metre (277-foot) long, three-masted sailing ship docked in the Burrard Inlet. The vessel is Statsraad Lehmkuhl, a 110-year-old Norwegian barque that serves as a sail training ship, a research vessel and a floating university. Statsraad Lehmkuhl is currently in the midst of the "One Ocean Expedition," a year-long journey that will take it to 27 ports on three continents, with the goal of highlighting ocean science and sustainability. The expedition is part of the UN Decade of Ocean Science, for which the vessel serves as an ambassador. “We’re doing research studies of the oceans that we sail through,” said Marcus Seidl, the ship’s captain, in an interview Saturday. He explained that Statsraad Lehmkuhl’s hull has equipment that continuously monitors ocean conditions, including things like salinity and concentrations of oxygen and microplastics. “We’re basically just testing the health of the ocean,” Seidl said. On a previous voyage, which circumnavigated the globe, the ship’s instruments confirmed that microplastics are found everywhere in the world’s oceans, no matter how remote, he said. Past research has also demonstrated the effects of climate change on things like oxygen levels and ocean currents, according to Seidl. “We don’t have the results yet, but during the end of this voyage, when we get home next April after one year of studying, we’ll hopefully get the results of what we found,” he said. “Probably, they’ll be just as disappointing as during our last expedition, I’m afraid.” Seidl said he’s worked on sailing ships for 45 years, and has spent 31 of those as captain of Statsraad Lehmkuhl. While the research results can be depressing, he said the job is exciting and “idealistic,” and he gets hope from seeing the increased awareness of issues affecting the health of Earth’s oceans. The ship arrived Friday and will be docked at the Burrard Dry Dock, 15 Wallace Mews Rd., in North Vancouver through the weekend. The public will be welcome aboard during an “open ship” event on Sunday from noon to 3 p.m. Statsraad Lehmkuhl arrived in Metro Vancouver from Los Angeles. Its next stops are Seattle on Oct. 22 and San Francisco on Nov. 3. The ship left Bergen, Norway, back in April and is scheduled to wrap up its voyage there in April 2026.
