Ship “Sołdek” – ship’s siren

The sound of ship’s siren on the steam ship “Sołdek”. The recording was realized on board of the ship-museum belonging to the National Maritime Museum in Gdańsk (Poland).

The sound of ship’s siren was used as so called fog signal, i.e. sound signal emitted by the ship in restricted visibility conditions. The sound of the siren was emitted by ships under way, as opposed to the sound of ship’s bell emitted by ships at anchor or aground.
The ship “Sołdek” was the first seagoing cargo ship constructed by Polish ship industry. The construction was carried out by the Gdańsk Shipyard and the vessel was launched in November 1948. “Sołdek” was a coal and ore freighter, i.e. the ship intended for exporting coal from Poland and importing iron ore on its way back. Although it operated on the Baltic Sea and the North Sea area, “Sołdek” sometimes sailed on the Atlantic, transporting coal to French ports.
In 1980, “Sołdek” was withdrawn from service and listed as a monument of Polish ship industry. It is open for tourists as ship-museum for 20 years now, constituting a department of the National Maritime Museum in Gdańsk.

Sound recordist: Monika Widzicka
Photographer: Piotr Leszczyński