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February 18, 2006
Tall Ships
One of the 'landmarks' of Travemünde is the sailing ship 'Passat'. Travemünde is habour of Lübeck, one of the towns at the Baltic coast that belonged to the famous Hanseatic league.
The 'Passat', a four masted bark
The Passat is one of the legendary 'Flying-P-Liners'. These sailing ships were built at the end of the 19th/beginning of the 20th century for the shipping company of F. Laeisz in Hamburg. Their names all began with 'P'. Best known are the Passat, Pamir, Padua, Potosi, Peking and the Preußen. These ships were famous for their speed. The masts of the Passat are 56 m high, the total area of the sails adds up to 4,600 square meters. The Passat could reach speeds of up to 18 knots! Among others the Passat was used to bring saltpetre from Chile to Europe.
The Passat was built in 1911 and made her first trip to Chile in 1912. On her second trip from Hamburg to Chile she needed only 73 days to reach Valparaiso. She served as a freight ship more or less until 1947. From 1952 until 1959 she was used as a training ship Since 1960 she has found a permanent home in Travemünde.
Her sister ship Pamir was built in 1905 and just like the Passat also served as training ship in the 1950's. In 1957 she went down in a heavy storm southwest of the Azores. She took 80 young seamen down with her, only six were rescued.
Once a year the 'Travemünder Woche' takes place. For a week Windjammers are gathered there and can be admired and visited. It may not be as grand as a similar event earlier in the year in Kiel but still - it is absolutely fascinating and well worth a visit. It's the one opportunity for the Passat to meet her sister Padua again, which now sails under Russian flag and is known as 'Krusenstern'. The other surviving sister, Peking, has found a new home in New York.
One of my favourites among these old ships, however, is the 'Alexander von Humboldt'. She was built in 1906. She is much smaller than the Passat, the area of her sails being less than a quarter of that of the Passat. Now owned by the German foundation 'Sail training' (DSST, Deutsche Stiftung Sail Training) and sailing around the world on various trips. Right now she can be found at Chilean coast.
The 'Alexander von Humboldt', easily recognised by her green sails
Posted by Mausi at February 18, 2006 05:30 PM
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Comments
Started buying my grandson some model ships.Passat.Mayflower,& H.M.S Bounty.
I never realized how Grand ships could be and so full of history.Thanks to all who have preserved them. Karen Salyer
Posted by: Karen at June 27, 2006 10:42 PM