One Ocean Expedition 2025-2026 

A 12-month global voyage with the Norwegian tall ship Statsraad Lehmkuhl - a floating ambassador for the UN Ocean Decade. Combining sail training, ocean science, education and diplomacy to inspire action for a sustainable ocean. 

2025 - 2026

One Ocean Expedition

Statsraad Lehmkuhl departed Seattle, USA on October 27 and is now at sea en route to San Francisco, USA, arriving November 3. Aboard are participants from the organisation Washington Maritime Blue.

Over the course of a year, the expedition will visit 27 ports across three continents. Several legs are open to the public - no sailing experience needed! Welcome on board!


Sailing route

At sea en route to San Francisco

Follow our journey

Statsraad Lehmkuhl visits San Francisco, November 3–7, 2025

San Francisco, USA

In addition to being a research vessel and sailing university, Statsraad Lehmkuhl serves as a floating meeting place where politicians, business leaders, researchers, and community actors come together to share knowledge and find solutions. That is the ship’s main mission these weeks.

Three weeks focusing on the future

Statsraad Lehmkuhl visits Seattle, October 22–27, 2025

Seattle, USA

Latest news

Latest videos

Following the success of the One Ocean Expedition 2021–2023, Statsraad Lehmkuhl is once again setting sail on a 12-month circumnavigation to promote ocean sustainability. The voyage will include 27 ports of call across three continents, combining ocean science, education and international cooperation to raise awareness about the crucial role of the ocean for a sustainable future.

On The One Ocean Expedition, Statsraad Lehmkuhl is filled with students, researchers and voyage crew who all work together to sail the big ship and gather experience and knowledge about the ocean.

Life on board

Tromsø, Norway

Bergen, Norway - Lerwick, UK

Reykjavik, Iceland

Nice, France 

Ponta Delgada, the Azores (Portugal)

Nuuk, Greenland

St. John's, Canada

Bermuda

Los Angeles, USA

Bermuda - Panama Canal 

Vancouver, Canada

San Diego, USA

La Paz, Mexico

Herradura, Costa Rica

Cartagena, Columbia

Herradura, Costa Rica - Panama Canal

Norfolk, USA

Cádiz, Spain

Brest, France 

Dublin, Ireland

Bergen, Norway

list of all the songs written about San Francisco

, 247 at the moment - and it keeps growing. It’s no wonder, the city is perhaps the most mythologized in all of the United States. Once the hippie capital of the 1970s, it is today a global center for computer science and technology.

Like every city in the U.S., San Francisco began modestly, in the latter half of the 18th century. Long before Spanish explorers arrived in 1769, indigenous peoples had lived in the area for more than 3,000 years.

San Francisco Bay is a natural harbor. In 1776, the Spanish established a mission there, Mission San Francisco de Asís

and later built a fort on the southern side of the strait where the Golden Gate Bridge now stands.

The Spanish controlled the region until 1821, when Mexico gained independence. The First Mexican Republic ruled over and area much larger than today’s Mexico, encompassing all or parts of California, Texas, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Oklahoma, and Kansas.

Under Mexican rule, the area was opened to settlers, and a small community developed near the best anchorage inside the bay. It was called Yerba Buena – “Where the Good Herbs Grow.”

In 1841, the Hudson’s Bay Company established a trading post in the bay, selling goods imported from Vancouver, salmon, timber, and British industrial products, in exchange for hides and tallow.

In 1845, the United States annexed Mexico, and the following year the Mexican-American War broke out. When the war ended in 1848, the U.S. had taken control of Mexico’s entire northern region. California had already been invaded in 1846, and in 1847 Yerba Buena was renamed San Francisco.

Freshwater and timber were scarce, and San Francisco remained a small town of around 1,000 inhabitants until gold was discovered in California in 1848. Within a few years, the California Gold Rush swelled the population, numbering 24,000 by the end of 1849.

Despite the lawlessness and crime that the fortune seekers brought with them, the city developed rapidly. In 1869, San Francisco was connected to the national railway network, and in 1873 the city introduced its famous cable cars. By 1890, the population had surpassed 300,000, and the future looked bright.

Along the U.S. West Coast, two tectonic plates meet, massive, rigid slabs of the Earth’s outer shell. The Pacific Plate to the west is being pushed beneath the North American Plate, making the entire region prone to earthquakes. On April 18, 1906, northern California was struck by a devastating one, reaching a magnitude of 7,9. 

In San Francisco, buildings collapsed and gas lines ruptured. A massive fire raged for days. Thousands of people lost their lives, and more than half of the city’s 400,000 inhabitants were left homeless.

Reconstruction progressed quickly. The Bank of America generously issued loans to those who had lost their homes, and by 1915 San Francisco was hosting a World’s Fair, a showcase of the city’s recovery.

During World War II, the shipbuilding industry expanded dramatically, and the population grew rapidly.

San Francisco’s harbor area proved unsuitable when large container ships replaced the cargo vessels of the 1950s and ’60s. Shipping operations moved across the bay to Oakland. With the ships went many industrial jobs, and between 1950 and 1980 the city lost more than ten percent of its population.

It was during this period that San Francisco became the gathering place for America’s counterculture. Hippies flocked to the Haight-Ashbury district, while the gay culture found a home in the Castro.

Since the 1990s, it is the internet, more than counterculture, that has defined San Francisco. During the dot-com boom, a large number of startup companies were founded in the city. Many of them are now among the most successful in the world, helping to reinvigorate the local economy alongside finance and tourism.

What is known as Silicon Valley lies south of San Francisco Bay, home to world-famous companies such as Apple, Intel, Nvidia, and many more.

Today, the city also is a hub for research in medicine and biotechnology, as well as for culture. Netflix, and the animation studios Industrial Light & Magic, Lucasfilm Animation, and Pixar all have their headquarters in San Francisco. The Academy of Art University is the largest art and design school in the country.

The fog that often drapes the bay and the city is legendary. It forms when moist ocean air is cooled by cold deep water that rises to the surface as ocean currents meet the coastline.

The fog and proximity to the sea give the city a cooler climate than its latitude suggests. Temperatures vary little throughout the year, but San Francisco is far from a freezing city. The maximum temperature ranges from 14-16°C in winter to 19-21°C in summer and early autumn.

The city receives about 581 millimeters of precipitation annually, mostly between November and March. June through September are typically bone dry.

Normal maximum temperature in November: 17.6°C
Normal rainfall in November: 66 mm

On October 22, Statsraad Lehmkuhl doced in 

, marking the start of three weeks filled with lectures, workshops, and meetings, all centered on the future of the ocean. First in Seattle, then San Francisco, and finally San Diego. 

The main focus: Ocean innovation and sustainability.

Local schools are also invited to take part - as part of the 

The project encourages students and teachers to explore ocean-related topics such as marine science, climate change, and sustainability. Schools around the world are participating and sharing their findings with one another.

 in San Francisco developed the educational materials and will present the project and its results so far during a major event on board when Statsraad Lehmkuhl visits the city on November 4.

, beeing both a landmark and a meeting point during 

 in Bergen, Norway. The original conference opened for the first time on April 15, 2023, when Statsraad Lehmkuhl returned to her home port after the 20-month-long first One Ocean Expedition.

, an alliance of companies working with maritime innovation. Representatives from One Ocean Week Bergen and from Norwegian business, politics, academia, and tourism are also contributing to the conference.

– Over the last decade we've built really shared industry and business connections with Norway. Finding opportunities for partnership, finding opportunities for sharing innovation. And the Statsraad Lehmkuhl is the connector, says Joshua Berger, CEO of Washington Maritime Blue.

– Seattle and Bergen have been sister cities for 60 years, and the close relationship between the two provides a strong foundation for further collaboration. One Ocean Week Seattle gives us a unique opportunity to strengthen ties that can open doors to new partnerships, trade, and value creation.

All of Seattle will notice what’s happening that week. Statsraad Lehmkuhl was accompanied by a flotilla of other vessels when she sailed into the harbor on the morning of October 22. On Saturday morning, the public is invited on board for an open-ship event and celebration. Both crew and researchers will be there to present and explain their work.

Statsraad Lehmkuhl departs Seattle on October 27 and sets course for San Francisco. Washington Maritime Blue remains on board, continuing its work during the southbound voyage.

The ship will dock at 10:00 a.m. on Monday, November 3, and on Tuesday, the deck will be filled with students participating in the "Message in a Bottle" event.

" takes place, a full-day conference bringing together leaders from science, policy, business, and innovation to develop concrete solutions for a healthy and sustainable ocean.

On Friday, November 7, Statsraad Lehmkuhl continues south to San Diego. On this leg, the 

The organization was launched during One Ocean Week 2023 in Bergen, and is a global network connecting science, industry, technology, policy, and investors to accelerate sustainable ocean action.

On board, participants meet for discussions and workshops - while also handling sails, standing lookout, keeping fire watches, and taking the helm.

Statsraad Lehmkuhl arrives in San Diego on November 11, during 

, a cluster of companies developing new maritime technologies.

On Friday, November 14, a workshop will be held on board, hosted by TMA BlueTech and the 

, followed by an open-ship event on Saturday, organized in collaboration with the 

On Sunday, November 16, Statsraad Lehmkuhl leaves San Diego, bound for La Paz, Mexico.

 will combine academic work with sailing duties. The organization is a collective of actors working to develop models for economic growth that restore the environment, support local communities, and promote health and well-being.

Statsraad Lehmkuhl will arrive in La Paz on November 24, before continuing toward Herradura, Costa Rica, on November 26. 

On this leg, anyone can sign up to join the voyage as trainee crew. More information is available here if you’re interested.

The story of Seattle is quite similar to that of the previous port, Vancouver in Canada, just a day’s sail further north through Puget Sound.

Indigenous peoples have lived in this region for thousands of years. Both cities offer excellent natural harbours, both were mapped by the British explorer George Vancouver at the end of the 18th century, both grew around the sawmill industry and mining in the latter half of the 19th century, and both were flooded with gold seekers for a few years - Vancouver during the 1858 gold rush, and Seattle during what became known as the Klondike Gold Rush in 1896.

Seattle and Vancouver each became the terminus for their own transcontinental railroads, Seattle in 1883 and Vancouver in 1886. The Canadian Pacific Railway runs coast to coast across Canada, north of the border, while the Northern Pacific Railway connects the coasts of the United States, south of the border.

In 1909, the two railway networks were linked, and today the train journey between the two cities takes only four hours.

Seattle’s history has been shaped by dramatic economic ups and downs. The first boom came with the lumber industry - the first setbacks came with the fire that destroyed much of the city in 1889, followed by the depression of 1893. The gold rush brought the next wave of prosperity, turning Seattle into a key transport hub for people and goods bound for Alaska and the Yukon.

During World War I, shipbuilding expanded rapidly, but the boom turned to bust again during the Great Depression that struck the United States in 1929. World War II brought another period of growth, this time driven by the aerospace industry. The Boeing Company had its headquarters here until 2001.

Today, Seattle is a major port, serving cargo ships crossing the Pacific, cruise ships bound for Alaska, and small passenger ferries linking the many islands and coastal towns of Puget Sound.

The city’s economy is a blend of traditional manufacturing and modern knowledge industries, and Seattle has become an important centre for education and culture.

Like Vancouver, Seattle has a large population of Asian descent, while more than 60 percent of its residents have European ancestry.

On the far side of Puget Sound rise the Olympic Mountains, reaching 2,400 meters on the Olympic Peninsula, a vast nature reserve where large areas are covered in temperate rainforest.

The city itself is hilly and, like the rest of the Pacific coast, exposed to seismic activity. The last major earthquake struck in 2001, with a magnitude of 6.8, causing significant damage to both residential and industrial areas.

Just 95 kilometres south of the city rises Mount Rainier, a towering volcano that reaches 4,390 metres above sea level. Its proximity to Seattle makes it one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world. The last major eruptions occurred between 1820 and 1854, and geologists fear that new eruptions may not be far off.

Seattle enjoys a mild, comfortable climate. In summer, maximum temperatures range between 20 and 25°C, while in winter they stay around 8 to 10°C. It rarely drops below -3 to -4°C.

Average annual precipitation is 999 millimeters, most of it falling as rain. Autumn and winter are the wettest seasons.

Normal maximum temperature in October: 15.8 °C
Normal rainfall in October: 99 mm