The merchant vessel named after our town – m/s "BOLESŁAWIEC" – was "found" during its voyage to Casablanca in Morocco (on Africa’s Atlantic coast), where it called under the flag of the Szczecin-based shipowner, Polskie Żeglugi Morskie. Until the end of December 1994, the vessel was commanded by Master Mariner RYSZARD ŻMIJCZUK.
Not everyone knows that efforts to secure this name for the ship lasted more than a dozen years. Initially, it was supposed to be a vessel sailing under the flag of Polskie Linie Oceaniczne in Gdynia, but the town on the Bóbr lost the competition to Skoczów (a town famous for its hat factory), and only PŻM accepted the application. When the flag was raised on the ship, it carried a rich collection of Bolesławiec artistic ceramics, mining equipment from the now-defunct "VITROCERMIN" Combine, and an artistically made tapestry depicting a panorama of our town.
In the first years of contact, the ship’s commanders and crew members often visited Bolesławiec. A duplicate (replica) of the m/s "BOLESŁAWIEC" ship’s bell, hung in the "maritime" School No. 8, remains as a memento of one of the visits; its sound is used to welcome guests to Tysiąclatka in accordance with the school’s original ceremony. The formalized contacts, dominated by the administrative and party authorities, then fell dormant for a long time.
The town intends to return to the tradition of the patronage agreement, and our editorial office will propose specific forms of mutually beneficial contact and cooperation. It is worth knowing that years ago Bolesławiec sent the largest number of young people to study at the Higher Maritime School in the Gryphon Town; we also have a native Bolesławiec woman serving as an officer on PLO ships in Gdynia – Ms JOLANTA REJENKO. It would be a shame to lose the fine legacy of maritime education, which gave the town two impressive maritime museums and a taste of maritime adventure to many young sailors.