The training sailing ship Meridian was built in 1948 at the Turku Shipyard in Finland as a reparation to the Soviet Union after the Second World War, along with 48 other sailing ships of the same type. Very few survive. Perhaps the luckiest sailing ship of its type to reach Estonia. Now it’s in Tallinn. Our ship, which went to the Klaipėda Nautical School, was the first ship of many future post-war navigators and captains. It is the baptism ground of famous sea captains Vilius Pakalniškis, Zenonas Kaupas, Ričardas Lučka.

“Meridianas” ceased to operate as a training sailing ship in 1967, and was later moored on the quay of the Danė River near the Biržos Bridge, where it operated a bar-restaurant.

In autumn 2012, the ownership of Meridian changed, and now the sailing boat belongs to Aidas Kaveckis and Aloyzas Kuzmarskis, on whose initiative the boat was cleaned up and returned to its permanent berth on 9 November 2013.