The original ship was built in 1910 as a 2-mast schooner in the northern Dutch town of Martenshoek (Groningen) for a German skipper who used her as a wood freighter. The first name of the ship was “Amalie”.
The “Amalie” was taken to Germany and sawn in two parts at the wharf in Kiel in 1923. The operation added an extra 8 meters and one mast to her original size. Until 1975 the ship sailed under German or Danish flag. It was then sold to its first Dutch owner. He traced the complete history of the ship, obtained her original blueprints and started to remodel her exactly as she was more than a half century earlier.
The ship was then named “Sepha Vollaars” and started sailing commercial trips from 1979-1983 in Holland. Sold in 1983, the ship sailed to Tahiti for the new Swiss owner, coming back to Europe 18 months later. By then, much of her beauty was gone.
When the present owners discovered the ship for sale in Belgium, it meant for them an opportunity of a lifetime. They sailed the ship to Portugal and named her Leão Holandês (Dutch Lion in Portuguese). Some years later (and after passing the difficulties of the local licences) the old three-Mast Schooner was once again hoisting its sails and cruising Portuguese waters, now under the Portuguese flag.
