Hotel Frederikshavn Seamen’s home was established in 1899 and is therefore currently the oldest seamen’s home.
The thought of a seamen’s home in Frederikshavn came from Captain Søren Thomsen. He was the captain of a wooden ship called Auroritha of Randers. In a hurricane in the West Indies they got into a life and death situation at sea. The experience changed Captain Søren Thomsen and since then he gathered his crew around the words of God.
When he got back to shore, he returned to his childhood town, and there he had the burning desire to do something for the seamen. So, in 1894 he opened a small sailor’s home.
His original thought was that the seamen should have a home outside home, a place to go to when they were at the harbour. It was a home where they did not serve alcohol, and where you could enjoy reading the newspaper and write letters to the family.
But the original property quickly became too small and in 1899 Søren Thomsen moved the seamen’s home to its current location at Tordenskjoldsgade. A property Søren Thomsen had built earlier on.
In 1905 the board of the gospel for sailors and fishermen overtook the hotel and the first manager couple was hired to run the seamen’s home.
In 1988 Frederikshavn Seamen’s home was converted into a fund with its own articles of association and its own independent local board. With the board change it became into Frederikshavn Seamen’s Home & Hotel.
Throughout the years the seamen’s home expanded and renovated. Last renovation the hotel went through was in 2018/2019, and today it stands as a modern hotel in Frederikshavn.
In 2018 the Danish Commerce and Companies Agency applied for permission to change the articles of association. This change meant that the hotel could now serve hard liquor up to 22%, and it also meant a name change to the fund. It became “the fund HOTEL Frederikshavn, seamen’s” home and with the secondary name called the fund HOTEL Frederikshavn. The hotel runs like a modern hotel today and competes with the other hotels in town. But we stick to our DNA, the hotel has a strong bond to Frederikshavn harbour and the companies at the harbour.