“Seagull”:
Private yacht with a tragic end

	”Seagull” got her yacht-like appearance after a refit in 1930. In the picture the vessel is outward bound from Turku on the Airisto. ILLUSTRATION: HÅKAN SJÖSTRÖM

An odd vessel in Finland’s maritime history was the former Swedish passenger liner “Halland”, which became the private yacht “Seagull”. When this vessel was owned by the Finnish tobacco manufacturer and shipowner Hans von Rettig, it was exclusively in his private use, carrying the owner and his family and friends on pleasure-trips mainly in Finnish and Swedish coastal waters.
In 1884 “Halland” was delivered to the Swedish shipping company Hallands Ångbåts AB by the Göteborg-based shipyard Motala Mekaniska Werkstads AB, Lindholmens Werkstad. She was put into service from Göteborg to Lübeck via Malmö and Copenhagen.
    In May 1918 she was put into the Finnish shipping company Bore’s traffic between Turku and Stockholm, under Swedish ownership due to export restrictions. She was registered in Finland later that year and transferred to Bore in 1920. She traded under her original name until 1928, when she was renamed “Bore II”.
    Towards the end of the decade the vessel became obsolete and in 1930 she was taken over by the Bore Company’s largest shareholder Hans von Rettig.     During an extensive refit in Turku the former passenger vessel became the yacht “Seagull”. Her exterior was made yacht-like and the interior was also to a great extent renewed. “Seagull” entered the register of the yachting club Airisto Segelsällskap in Turku and became its by far largest vessel.
    When she was not cruising with the von Rettig family on board, “Seagull” used to be moored to a pier at the von Rettig summer residence on the Ruissalo Island near Turku.

Donated to the government
Hans von Rettig took delivery of the purpose-built yacht “Seagull II” from Götaverken in Göteborg in the summer 1936. “Seagull” was then donated to the Finnish government to be used as a representation vessel by the President of Finland.
    She was renamed “Aura” after the river in her former home port Turku, but the President only used her for a few voyages to the Baltic states. “Aura” was taken out of service and was allowed to fall into disrepair due to lack of maintenance. She was first laid up at Barösund and later at Suomenlinna outside Helsinki.

War service
Finland’s Winter War began with the Soviet Union’s attack on Finland at the end of November 1939. “Aura” was taken into service and outfitted as an escort vessel.
Under her new name “Aura II” she was escorting a convoy together with the coast guard vessel Tursas on the Åland Sea on January 13, 1940, when a Soviet submarine was sighted. “Aura II” dropped depth-charges and some debris came to the surface. In order to ensure the sinking of the submarine, further depth-charges were dropped, but one detonated on board “Aura II”. Within a few minutes the vessel sank, taking with her 26 men of 41 in the icy cold water. The submarine survived and left the area a week later.

//Pär-Henrik Sjöström

Sources:
Pietikäinen: The Centenary Fleet List of the Ships Owned by Bore and Rettig Companies
Grönstrand: Gångna tiders skepp
Sjöhistoriska Institutet vid Åbo Akademi

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