World’s Largest Square-Rigged Cruise Ship in Croatia

The Royal Clipper, which holds a Guinness World Record for being the largest square-rigged cruise ship in service, is currently sailing in Croatian waters…

With a length of 439ft and 42 sails (which have a combined area of 56,000 sq ft), the Royal Clipper holds a Guinness World Record for being the largest square-rigged cruise ship in service. The steel-hulled five-masted fully rigged ship was sailing near the Brijuni islands on Tuesday.

The Royal Clipper, which also visited Hvar and Lokrum on its cruise in Croatia, was designed by Polish naval architect Zygmunt Choreń, for Star Clippers Ltd. of Sweden, and built using an existing steel hull that was modified by the Gdańsk Shipyard. The ship was designed as a sailing holiday cruiser for the Polish coal miners, her first name was Gwarek (in ancient Polish it means The Miner). Her sails can be handled with a crew as small as twenty using powered controls.