Cisne Branco


Cisne Branco is a tall ship of the Brazilian Navy based at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, though she travels worldwide. The name means "white swan." It is a full-rigged ship built in Amsterdam, Netherlands by Damen Shipyard. Her keel was laid on 9 November 1998, and she was christened and launched on 4 August 1999, delivered to the Brazilian Navy on 4 February 2000, and commissioned as a Brazilian naval vessel on March 9, 2000.
Cisne Branco is the third Brazilian Navy sail-training yacht to carry this famous name. The first Cisne Branco was the classic 15-metre wooden yacht Tritonia, which was designed by the legendary naval architect Alfred Mylne, and built by Alexander Robertson and Sons Ltd in 1910. The yacht arrived in Brazil in 1978, and after extensive repairs undertook an extended 8-month voyage across the Atlantic. The second Cisne Branco, which had an aluminium hull, was used by the navy between 1980 and 1986 after which it was passed on to a naval college.
Cisne Branco made her maiden voyage across the Atlantic Ocean to Brazil, celebrating the 500th anniversary of the discovery of Brazil by the Portuguese Admiral Pedro Álvares Cabral. The ship's project is inspired by the design of the 19th century clippers. Cisne Branco is normally used in national and international representation activities to showcase the Brazilian Navy and Brazilian culture. As well, she is used as an instructional sailing ship by the cadets of the Brazilian Naval School, Academy of Merchant Marine, and other naval schools.
In 2010 she participated in Velas Sudamerica 2010, a historical Latin American tour by eleven tall ships to celebrate the bicentennial of the first national governments of Argentina and Chile.