l'Avenir under sail | |
History | |
---|---|
Name |
|
Namesake |
|
Owner |
|
Operator |
|
Port of registry |
|
Builder | RC Rickmers, Geestemünde |
Completed | 1908 |
Identification |
|
Fate | Lost without trace, March 1938 |
General characteristics | |
Tonnage | 2,738 GRT |
Length | 285.6 ft (87.1 m) |
Beam | 45.2 ft (13.8 m) |
Depth | 25.2 ft (7.7 m) |
Sail plan | four-masted barque |
Crew | 60 |
Sensors and processing systems | submarine signalling (until 1935) |
Admiral Karpfanger was a German four-masted barque that was a cargo ship and sail training ship. She was built near Bremerhaven in 1908 as l'Avenir, which was the name that she bore until 1937. She spent most of her career with the Association Maritime Belge, SA.
In 1932 Gustaf Erikson bought l'Avenir and added her to his fleet of commercial sailing ships. In 1937 Erikson sold her to Hamburg America Line (HAPAG), who refitted her as a sail training ship and renamed her Admiral Karpfanger.
In 1938 she disappeared on her first voyage with HAPAG, with the loss of all 60 crewmen and cadets aboard.
RC Rickmers, AG of Geestemünde, near Bremerhaven, built l'Avenir in 1908. She had a steel hull, was 285.6 ft (87.1 m) long, had a beam of 45.2 ft (13.8 m) and depth of 25.2 ft (7.7 m). She had four masts and her tonnage was 2,738 GRT. [1]
L'Avenir had a long career as a Belgian sail training ship registered in Antwerp. [1] In 1932 Association Maritime Belge sold her to Gustav Erikson, a Finn who re-registered her in Mariehamn. [2] Erikson operated a notable fleet of sailing cargo ships, which in the 1930s dominated the annual Grain race to bring wheat from Australia to Europe. [3]
In 1933–34 the composer Percy Grainger and his second wife, the artist Ella Ström, were passengers on l'Avenir from Europe to Port Germein, South Australia. [4]
In 1937 HAPAG bought l'Avenir from Erikson and had her overhauled and refitted as a training ship for its officer cadets. HAPAG renamed the ship Admiral Karpfanger after Berend Jacobsen Karpfanger (1623–83), a 17th-century admiral of the Hanseatic League, and re-registered her in Hamburg. [5]
In September 1937 Admiral Karpfanger sailed from Hamburg with a complement of 27 men and 33 cadets. She docked in Port Germein on 6 January 1938 and spent the next month loading a cargo of 3,447 tons of wheat. [4] Her Master reported that the generator that powered the ship's wireless was faulty. [4]
On 8 February 1938 Admiral Karpfanger left Port Germein for the UK. On 1 March she reported to Awarua radio station on the southern tip of New Zealand that her position was 51°S172°E / 51°S 172°E , [6] due south of the South Island. This showed that her Master had chosen to sail eastward to Europe via Cape Horn. She was then in contact with Norddeich radio station in Germany. The last wireless message Norddeich received from her was on 12 March. [7]
HAPAG took some months to realise that the barque was missing. On June 24 the authorities of New Zealand were informed. It was feared that the ship might have been stranded on either the Bounty Islands or Antipodes Island, both sub-antarctic islands of New Zealand. [8] Later, an Argentinian motor ship, the 637 GRT Bahia Blanca, searched for her but found nothing. [4] A HAPAG motor ship also searched the route to search for her, but also found nothing. [3]
A Chilean ship searched the Cape Horn region from 10 to 12 October. In Windhound Bay on the south coast of Navarino Island her crew found two pieces of a door, a piece of name plate and a piece of wooden wreckage with a rope from the Belgian Navy attached to it. These pieces of wreckage were believed to be from Admiral Karpfanger. [7]
One ship in the area at the time that Admiral Karpfanger disappeared reported that it had sighted icebergs from Antarctica unusually far north for the time of year. [3] Early in 1939 a maritime court in Hamburg noted different possible causes for her loss. She could have struck an iceberg. Alternatively a heavy sea could have damaged her rigging, her hatches or her hull. The court found the cause of her loss to be force majeure . [7]
Alan-A-Dale was a cargo motor ship that was built in Denmark in 1938 as Nordvest. In the Second World War the United States requisitioned her in 1941 and renamed her Alan-A-Dale. In 1944 she was sunk by enemy action off the coast of the Netherlands.
The Flying P-Liners were the sailing ships of the German shipping company F. Laeisz of Hamburg.
Pamir was a four-masted barque built for the German shipping company F. Laeisz. One of their famous Flying P-Liners, she was the last commercial sailing ship to round Cape Horn, in 1949. By 1957, she had been outmoded by modern bulk carriers and could not operate at a profit. Her shipping consortium's inability to finance much-needed repairs or to recruit sufficient sail-trained officers caused severe technical difficulties. On 21 September 1957, she was caught in Hurricane Carrie and sank off the Azores, with only six survivors rescued after an extensive search.
Suomen Joutsen is a steel-hulled full-rigged ship with three square rigged masts. Built in 1902 by Chantiers de Penhoët in St. Nazaire, France, as Laënnec, the ship served two French owners before she was sold to German interest in 1922 and renamed Oldenburg. In 1930, she was acquired by the Government of Finland, refitted to serve as a school ship for the Finnish Navy and given her current name. Suomen Joutsen made eight long international voyages before the Second World War and later served in various support and supply roles during the war. From 1961 on she served as a stationary seamen's school for the Finnish Merchant Navy. In 1991, Suomen Joutsen was donated to the city of Turku and became a museum ship moored next to Forum Marinum.
Norddeutscher Lloyd was a German shipping company. It was founded by Hermann Henrich Meier and Eduard Crüsemann in Bremen on 20 February 1857. It developed into one of the most important German shipping companies of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and was instrumental in the economic development of Bremen and Bremerhaven. On 1 September 1970, the company merged with Hamburg America Line (HAPAG) to form Hapag-Lloyd AG.
Passat is a German four-masted steel barque and one of the Flying P-Liners, the famous sailing ships of the German shipping company F. Laeisz. She is one of the last surviving windjammers.
Pommern, formerly Mneme (1903–1908), is an iron-hulled sailing ship. It is a four-masted barque that was built in 1903 at the J. Reid & Co shipyard in Glasgow, Scotland.
Kruzenshtern or Krusenstern is a four-masted barque that was built in 1926 at Geestemünde in Bremerhaven, Germany as Padua. She was surrendered to the USSR in 1946 as war reparation and renamed after the early 19th-century Baltic German explorer in Russian service, Adam Johann von Krusenstern (1770–1846). She is now a Russian sail training ship.
MS Hamburg is a 15,000-ton, 420 passenger, luxury cruise ship owned by the Conti Group and is now operated by Plantours Kreuzfahrten. She was built in 1997, in Wismar, Germany. Her relative small size allows her to transit the Great Lakes in North America, where she cruised seasonally between 1997 and 2011 and again in 2022, as well as other cruises worldwide as travelling the Mediterranean for cultural cruises with Martin Randall Travel, the north Atlantic and at Asia. Her crew consists of 170 members, and her top speed is 16 knots. She was previously known as Columbus for Hapag-Lloyd, she was since replaced by Columbus 2.
SS Pasteur was a steam turbine ocean liner built for Compagnie de Navigation Sud-Atlantique. She later sailed as Bremen for Norddeutscher Lloyd. In the course of her career, she sailed for 41 years under four names and six countries' flags.
SS Antilla was a Hamburg America Line (HAPAG) cargo ship that was launched in 1939 and scuttled in 1940.
Gustaf Adolf Mauritz Erikson was a ship-owner from Mariehamn, in the Åland islands. He was famous for the fleet of windjammers he operated to the end of his life, mainly on the grain trade from Australia to Europe.
Herzogin Cecilie was a German-built four-mast barque (windjammer), named after German Crown Princess Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1886–1954), spouse of Crown Prince Wilhelm of Prussia (1882–1951). She sailed under German, French and Finnish flags.
Marlborough was an iron-built two-decked merchant sailing ship which disappeared in 1890. She was built by the firm of Robert Duncan and Co., Port Glasgow and launched in 1876 for her owner John Leslie, who later sold her to the Albion Line. Marlborough disappeared during a voyage in January 1890, and has not been seen or heard from in over a century. Searches and investigations have yielded nothing conclusive, and the ship's ultimate fate, and that of her crew, remains unknown.
Ponape was a four-masted steel–hulled barque which was built in 1903 in Italy as Regina Elena for an Italian owner. In 1911 she was sold to Germany and renamed Ponape. In 1914 she was arrested by HMS Majestic and confiscated as a war prize by the Admiralty. She was renamed Bellhouse In 1915 she was sold to Norwegian owners. In 1925, she was sold to Finland and again named Ponape serving until she was scrapped in 1936.
Priwall was a four-masted steel-hulled barque with royal sails over double top and topgallant sails. The windjammer was ordered by the F. Laeisz shipping company of Hamburg and launched at the Blohm & Voss yard, Hamburg, on 23 June 1917. After delays arising from a shortage of materials during and after First World War, she was completed on 6 March 1920. Priwall was used on the nitrate trade route to the west coast of South America; she also made several voyages from South Australia's Spencer Gulf grain ports to Europe. Her code Letters were RWLN; in 1934 they were changed to DIRQ.
MV Alstertor was a refrigerated cargo ship built in 1938 for Anders Jahres Rederi A/S of Sandefjord, Norway by Oresundsvarvet, Landskrona, Sweden as MV Rose. In 1939 a German ship-owning firm, Rob. M. Sloman, bought her to transport fruit between Santos, Brazil and Hamburg. In 1940 the Kriegsmarine requisitioned her and converted her into a support ship for naval operations in the Atlantic.
SS Santa Fé was a German refrigerated cargo steamship. She is now a Black Sea shipwreck and part of her cargo is of interest to marine archaeologists.
SS Reliance was one of a pair of transatlantic steam ocean liners that were launched in 1914 in Germany for the Hamburg America Line (HAPAG), sold to a Dutch shipping line in 1916, and seized by the United States as World War I reparations in 1922. United American Lines (UAL) operated her until 1926, when HAPAG bought her back.
Santa Claus was an American medium clipper ship built in Boston by Donald McKay in 1854. In the course of her career, she made three voyages from the East Coast of the United States to San Francisco, California, the fastest of which was a comparatively swift 128-day passage in the winter of 1857–1858. The ship was mainly engaged in the guano trade and in trade to the Far East. In 1858, she brought Chinese immigrants to California; according to one source, she was also at one time engaged in the coolie trade.