The floating pianos on the board of MS “Batory”

Abstract

This article is an attempt to reconstruct the history of the grand pianos and upright pianos on the board of MS “Batory” with the aim of indicating which specific instruments and of which brands travelled on “Batory”. The article also explores what characterized these and how their further history unfolded after the decision of scrapping the ship. Thanks to the meticulousness of the pre‑war employees of Gdynia–America Shipping Lines SA, the first inventory of the ship has been reconstructed, although its post‑war fate has already been obliterated. The story is fragmentary, interrupted by the lack of surviving documentation. This is supplemented by photographic documentation and interviews with those who created it. The text is “embedded” in the history of the Tricity on the one hand, and in the history of music on the other. The publication of the article is also intended to evoke memories among those who travelled on the MS “Batory”, which may lead to the completion of missing threads.