Tvind Ships

 

 

The Activ

Wrecked in Feb 1st, 1983 in the English Channel with the loss of eight lives, all TG members.   See: the story of the Activ in Liev Gunnar Lie's MA Thesis.

Butterfly McQueen

Picture wanted

World's largest luxury glass fibre yacht.   Bought by Tvind in 1988 from a boatyard in Hamburg, fitted out to Teachers' Group specifications and used by Amdi and the Teachers Group for meetings, cruises, as a floating office and floating hotel.    The boat has the latest computer sailing equipment and is fitted out in a luxury style, allegedly with gold plated taps.    It was also rented out to wealthy businessmen on a commercial basis.

It was used in the Caribbean, the Mediterranean and other parts of the world, and was moored off Miami,  where TG has a headquarters and luxury houses, for some time.    It was thought to have left there for Fiji.  Present whereabouts and ownership uncertain.

 

Thomas Brocklebank

Tvind's first ship, c 1976, later renamed The Odysseus

 

Lille Bjoern    (Little Bear)

Wrecked February 1981,  Isla Iguana,  near Panama.

Former wooden Danish lighthouse ship, 155ft, c 1910. Bought 1980s

Steen Thomsen writes:   'This ship was wrecked against an island, inhabited by American Indians, not far off Panama, as far as I remember. ... The people on the island have had much joy from  various equipment from the vessel.   Clocks, furniture, etc., as it has  been reported by people who went to the island later on.  All people aboard were saved.    But Amdi Petersen quickly bought a 117 feet  brigantine named Christian Bach, owned by a Scotchman from Inverness. ....The Big Saviour saved the reputation of Tvind by hiding the info about the ship that was wrecked;    well, what the hell would Social  Services do to the big-money-for-Tvind-youngsters in case they heard about the accident?' 

Jes Fabricius Moeller writes:    'The date of the wrecking of Lille Bjoern is February 1981. As I wrote before, no one drowned, but Tvind managed to keep it a secret to most of the public. The wrecking was reported to the Danish Foreign Ministry, which is my source of information in this case. The foreign ministry also leaked some of the information to the press which is my initial gateway to the story.'

 

 

Christian /  Lille Bjoern (2)  / Spirit of Winestead

    

137-ft brigantine, built 1953.  15 crew.

Jes Fabricius Moeller writes:   'The story in short is that the new Lille Bjoern   -   formerly  Christian  Bach   -   in 1981 sailed out with children on board. The captain left the ship because the TG-members on board tried to force him to sail when the safety  risks were to high.    At one point no one had heard from the ship en route to Galapagos for several weeks and Poul Joergensen was called to a meeting in  the foreign ministry.   The ship turned up in Panama in a terrible condition  and few weeks later it was prohibited from sailing with children by the Danish authorities. This is probably why it later turned up in England as Steen Thomsen says.    Danes will find the whole story in my book pages 172-176.'

Steen Thomsen writes:  'This Lille Bjoern later on became a big money-milker from the British authorities when Amdi sent her to the English small school, Red House Ltd.   (You can read about this in my report).   Lille Bjoern was re-named Spirit of Winestead.    Now she belongs  to the Danish Tvind school Soegaardhus, re-named: Lille Bjoern.   As far  as I know, she is now sailing again.

 

Store Bjoern     (Big Bear)

Still active but 'in a lousy condition', sailing for Smaaskolen Soefolkene, Vamdrup, Denmark.  (Steen Thomsen)

 

 

Store Claus / Return of Marco Polo

Owned by Tvind company B & B Shipping, Cayman Islands, to 1995.   Rented out to the Tvind companies behind the One World Channel scam in 1988-9.    Captain: Henrik Wibrand.

Ownership later transferred to Argyll Smith and Co, Jersey-registered Tvind company, that also owned Winestead Hall.

Used by alleged Tvind front company  IFAS as 'scientific research vessel', implicated in tax evasion, according to Danish TV and later centre of the Danish police case.

'Return of Marco Polo: In the eighties sailing on behalf of the "fund",  bringing a lot of good monies back to Amdi Petersen. In 1994, at Winestead Hall, Hull, and from 1998 till today, Tvind has tried to find ways of making money by means of that vessel; lately when Tvind wanted  to start up a project for drug abusers, the project was stopped by local people.'  (Steen Thomsen)