Looking at this photo of the Prinz Hamlet makes me feel proud and sentimental at the the same time. She was built at Nobiskrug shipyard in my hometown Rendsburg in northern Germany in 1973. I was a fourteen year old boy then and certainly did not expect to travel on her when I watched her being built. Ten years later I used to travel regularly between Hamburg and Harwich on her when I lived and worked in Manchester in the Eighties - flying was too expensive in those days (well, at least for me). I remember the lights of Harwich disappearing in the darkness when she left for Hamburg during the winter months, I remember hours of misery and seasickness when I crossed the North Sea in autumn and winter storms, and I remember warm summer evenings when I stood at the stern watching the sunset with a beer in my hands, seeing England disappear in the distance. I will never forget this ship and the many times it took me safely across the North Sea. I feel greatly indebted to Andreas Hoppe for making it possible for me and all the others who love this ship to witness the very moment she took shape.