The F.P. von Knorring, a small 1928 passenger vessel moored in the eastern harbour, has operated as a floating guesthouse and tourist attraction for several decades. The ship is smaller and less dramatic than the Pommern but has the distinct advantage of being an actually functioning historic vessel. Visitors can go aboard and see the original fittings; the ship occasionally hosts events and exhibitions.
Worth fifteen minutes if you are already in the eastern harbour area. The contrast with the enormous modern ferries at the adjacent berths is striking.
A story
The F.P. von Knorring was built in the Netherlands in 1928 as a passenger ship and has been in continuous operation ever since — making it one of the oldest working passenger vessels in the world. It operated on various Baltic routes before being used as a floating youth hostel in Mariehamn for decades. The ship was named after Frans Peter von Knorring, a Swedish botanist and clergyman who worked in Finland during the early nineteenth century and was known for his research on lichens — an appropriately modest subject for a ship that has spent its life quietly outlasting expectations.