Category: Shipping

The wreck seekers from the Atair

The Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency plays a key role in ensuring safety in German waters. Divers from the agency search for underwater obstacles in the Elbe. On the Elbe, between Hamburg and the estuary. A northern German autumn day, the water is grey-brown, sometimes it rains. Large ships pass by, heading for the Hanseatic city or the North Sea. A boat rocks on the waves, "Ruden" is written on the bow. Three hoses in blue, yellow and orange, wound around each other in a spiral, lead from the boat into the depths. They lead down to Tjark Lange. The diver is travelling towards the bottom. The blue hose is used to...

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By hook or by crook: Sinking of the cargo ship Melanie Schulte

Shortly before Christmas 1952, the cargo ship Melanie Schulte disappeared almost without a trace in the North Atlantic. The accident has now been reconstructed at the Helmholtz Centre Hereon. The sinking of the multi-purpose freighter Melanie Schulte west of the Scottish coast on the night of 21 to 22 December 1952 is considered one of the worst disasters in German merchant shipping after the Second World War. All 35 crew members lost their lives and it was not until weeks later that wreckage and a lifebuoy washed up on the Scottish coast. The parts indicated that the ship, which had a displacement of 10,000 tonnes, had broken apart. The Melanie Schulte, which only entered service on 9 November 1952...

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Skirmishes in the Baltic Sea

After the beginning of the Second World War, the Kriegsmarine took over the bathing ship Rugard. In the final days of the war, it rescued thousands of refugees and soldiers. Like many other German passenger ships, the Rugard, which was launched on 13 March 1927 at Stettiner Oderwerke and used in the seaside resort service, was requisitioned by the Kriegsmarine during the Second World War. She was initially a flagship and supply ship before finally being deployed as the lead ship of the 9th Security Division. In this capacity, she not only saw the end of the war, but also Access marineforum digital+ Are you already a registered user? Log in here now - also MOV members: Username...

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Disaster on Christmas Eve

A good 200 years ago, two ships sank in a storm off Denmark. Today, a remarkable museum in Thorsminde commemorates the many dead - and the dangers of the Danish west coast. In mid-December 1811, Vice-Admiral Sir James Saumarez, commander-in-chief of the British fleet in the Baltic Sea, made a fatal decision that he later came to regret. Persuaded by his deputy Rear-Admiral Robert Carthew Reynolds, his flag captain David Oliver Guion and the captain of the ship of the line HMS Defence, he sent the damaged ship of the line HMS St. George with a crew of 765 men and civilian men and women accompanied by HMS Defence with 550 men and women, contrary to his convictions....

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250 marks for training

Numerous training ships were built at the beginning of the 20th century to ensure the qualified training of young seamen in Germany. Even today, the German Training Ship Association is responsible for maintaining one such full-rigged ship. The founding of the German Training Ship Association on 12 January 1900 in the Hotel Continental in Berlin reflects the great economic and political importance that merchant shipping had achieved in the Wilhelmine Empire. The 227 founding members represented the top echelons of the German economy as well as the maritime-orientated aristocracy. Members of the Siemens, Borsig, Underberg, Guilleaume, Boveri, Hoesch and Faber-Castell families were among them, as well as representatives of the imperial Hohenzollern family, the...

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