THE GOTHEBORG III PROJECT

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• HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
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• LAST VOYAGE 1743-1745
  • LAST VOYAGE 1743-45
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• EARLY DIVINGS 1745-1907
  • Kronologisk historia om vraket 1735-1986
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  • James Keiller and Carl Lyon Salvage 1906-07
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• THE WÄSTFELT EXCAVATION 1986-92
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• PLANNING 1992-1998
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  • Visit by the Order of Göta Coldin
• TO CHINA 2006-2007
  • Arrival to Canton 2006
  • Port Elisabeth 2006
  • Back home in Gothenburg 2007
  • Back to Wargö Håla 1743, in 2023
• FRIENDS AND RESOURCES
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  • Other Ongoing Projects in 1989

Back home in Gothenburg, 9 June, 2007

The Gotheborg III arrives back home June 9, 2007 after its epic journey to China and back.
Photo © Jan-Erik Nilsson 2007

A few days earlier, in 2007, a long-time dream was fulfilled, and I can't help but make some space here to share this with you. It marks the closure of a project I had the pleasure of helping to initiate during the critical first five years, from 1993 to 1998. It was during this time that we, on our own initiative, turned a dream into living reality and a majestic hull was being built inside our enormous shipyard hall at our own shipyard - the Terra Nova - in Gothenburg, on the site of the former Eriksbergs Shipyard.

Now, after fourteen years from inception to completion, she has finally completed her maiden voyage to China and back, just as we set out to do, safely bringing her home all the way.

This time she returned and entered the harbor of Gothenburg together with hundred if not thousands of small and large boats, in vivid contrast to what happened in 1745, when she struck a reef and sank not far from where these pictures were taken. I want to extend my gratitude to all those who shared our dream and contributed to making it come true.

I also ask that you spare a thought for those who were part of this at the beginning but are no longer with us. They knew it might take too long for them to see her return, but they supported this dream with all their might anyway.

This is the true valor of great individuals, without whom this project would never have been possible.

As we have said all the way through this project, always remember your history.

Jan-Erik Nilsson
Scripsit, Vargö Håla, Winter of 2023
Waiting for good wind, as always
Original co-founder
Gotheborg III Management group 1993-1998
Gotheborg.com

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This page is one of currently about 1,500 Gotheborg.com GLOSSARY, Q&A, Exhibition or other INFO pages available on Gotheborg.com. This ship section contains a few of the original pages that was created by me during 1996-2000 in the early phase of the Rebuilding and China Voyage East Indiaman Gotheborg III Project and a number of follow up texts about what happened later. The reason for the name of this my web site - Gotheborg.com - is because of me together with Anders and Berit Wästfelt, being one of the few original founders who actually started the Gotheborg III project, or, adventure,as Anders preferred to call it. The project was a difficult thing to get off the ground. I was responsible for historical research and conceptualization, to motivate and get our sponsors onboard. My long term idea was to use the ship to promote the use of Internet as a communication and business platform. My idea was to use the ship to market the website, not the other way around. This was completely not understood at the time by any of the big names we had involved and since there were then no use for the domain name, I kept it and decided to use it for my other personal interest and hobby - the study of Chinese export porcelain and our mutual Swedish-Chinese history of trade and cultural exchange. All expressed opinions and observations are my own if not stated otherwise. Submitted material gratefully appears on this website due to the implied or expressed consent of the rights owners. All text and images are copyright © Jan-Erik Nilsson, Gothenburg, Sweden 1996-2024 unless otherwise stated. A larger screen allows larger images and better site navigation.