Museum Ship Dar Pomorza, Gdynia, 11.04.2026 – 28.02.2027
For over half a century, the “Dar Pomorza” was more than just a training ship. For thousands of young people, it became their first home at sea, a place to gain knowledge, test their mettle and discover what the seafaring trade is really all about. For many members of the permanent crew, it was a second life to which they were bound for decades. The temporary exhibition “From Cadet to Master” invites you to step into this world and meet the people who created the legend of the “White Frigate”.
The exhibition guides visitors through daily life on the ship, which accommodated up to 180 people during training voyages. The cadets, divided into watches, learnt navigation, meteorology, maritime law, foreign languages, and the practical use of instruments – from the sextant to the radar. Their daily routine was dictated by watch signals, and the small number of personal belongings they were allowed to take on board, along with the modest living conditions, served as a reminder that life at sea demands discipline and resilience.
An important part of the exhibition is the presentation of the training staff and permanent crew. Through photographs, everyday objects and excerpts from memoirs, we get to know the people who ensured the ship’s safety and were responsible for the education and upbringing of successive cohorts of aspiring seafarers. Instructors, boatswains, sailmakers, carpenters, engineers, electricians, cooks, doctors and paramedics — each of them had their place within the ship’s complex organisation. It is thanks to these people that the “Dar Pomorza” was able to safely traverse the seas and oceans for decades. In this section of the exhibition, visitors will see, among other things, the tools of their trade, including a sailmaker’s palm with reinforcement, a Morse code lamp, medical instruments and items of sailors’ clothing.
A separate section of the exhibition is devoted to the officer corps – from radio operators, who maintained communication with the world, to chief mates, who directly supervised the crew’s work and had a huge influence on the training of future sailors. The narrative culminates in the figure of the master — “second only to God”, as the crew used to say. He was responsible for everything that happened on board, and for the cadets he often became a role model for life. During more than fifty years of service under the Polish flag, the “Dar Pomorza” had only five captains, whose portraits bring the story of the journey “from cadet to master” to a close.
The exhibition offers a glimpse of the “White Frigate” not only as a beautiful sailing ship, but above all as a place where maritime careers, friendships and memories were forged. It is a story of the people who shaped the history of Polish maritime education — and of the ship that became its symbol.
The archival documents and artefacts used in the exhibition originate from the collections of: the National Maritime Museum in Gdańsk, Hall of Tradition of the Maritime University in Gdynia, Gdynia City Museum, the National Digital Archives, and Jerzy Uklejewski.
The exhibition is held under the patronage of the Mayor of Gdynia.
Media patronage is provided by: Gazeta Wyborcza Trójmiasto, PortalMorski.pl, Radio Gdańsk, Trójmiasto.pl, Żaglowce.info and the magazine Żeglarstwo.
The exhibition has come into being owing to the involvement of the following people:
Arleta Gałązka, Dr Jędrzej Szerle – curatorial team, exhibition concept
Anna Ciemińska, Bartłomiej Garba, Dr Marcin Westphal – text edition
Monika Golenko – exhibition coordination
Beata Jakimowicz, Piotr Dziewanowski, Piotr Felkier – preparation (conservation) of exhibits
Marek Jankowski – graphic design
Anna Moroz – translation into English
The curatorial team would like to express their sincere thanks for their assistance in organising the exhibition to Joanna Stasiak from the Hall of Tradition of the Maritime University in Gdynia and Dariusz Małszycki from the Gdynia City Museum and the students of the Maritime School Complex in Gdańsk, as well as to our colleagues at the National Maritime Museum in Gdańsk: Irena Rodzik, Sylwia Paszko, Andrzej Truszkowski, Captain Andrzej Olko and the entire crew of the museum ship “Dar Pomorza”, the Exhibition Design Team and the Technical Section of the Administration Department.