Cruise along Windermere in our unique 1928 wooden motor yacht, Albatros.

Originally built in 1928 in Berlin for a sea captain as his own private motor yacht, which he used mainly on the River Elbe and surrounding waterways. She was to be confiscated during WWII, along with most other useful vessels, and used for transporting cargo along the Elbe to Hamburg. A decade after the war she was transported to Bodensee which borders Switzerland, Germany and Austria where she became a ferry connecting various cities around the lake.

In 1983 Albatros was purchased by a Dutch shipyard in Friesland. Here the boatbuilders appreciated the origins of the boat and set about rebuilding her to the original specification, emulating the layout both externally and internally. Three years later Albatros headed south to the French waterways where she was kept for holidays, mainly on the Seine, right through to late nineteen nineties. She then returned to the Netherlands where a classic boat restoration yard saw the potential as a sight seeing vessel in Amsterdam.

A further restoration, around 2005, concentrated on bringing Albatros back to her 1928 splendour. Albatros was reborn.

The story of Albatros has much in common with how we have restored Langdale Chase to her former glory. It felt fitting that she would join us in Windermere in 2024, nearly 100 years after she was built. Watch the final part of her journey below.