History
Planned and ordered in 1906 as a reserve lightvessel (to stand in for other lightvessels during scheduled yard maintenance), the ship was launched on 10 September 1906 at AG Weser with the yard number 155 as the first of its class. Its hull was that of a sailing ship, as was common in this class, with the beacon mast in place of the main mast. There is no clear record whether she was christened Reserve Fehmarnbelt (after her first station) or Reserve Sonderburg, as both names are documented. On the ship's bell appears only Reserve; a first home port at Sonderburg (today Sønderborg, Denmark) is most likely. From 1920 to 1945 the ship was home ported at Kiel-Holtenau and served in many locations, but mainly along Baltic shores.
She was installed in 1945 as a permanent replacement for the bombed and damaged light vessel Kiel. In the spring of 1957 she was rammed by a Swedish freighter and sank; she was raised and after a two-year overhaul returned to service in 1959.
During the summer of 1967 her location was upgraded to a lighthouse and she returned to stand-by reserve for North Sea deployment. Eventually she was assigned as permanent replacement for the retired Amrumbank. Being supplanted again by a fully automated light vessel – and following another collision and overhaul in Wilhelmshaven – she was towed to Bremerhaven and named Confidentia.
Alexander von Humboldt
A newly established foundation, the Deutsche Stiftung Sail Training or DSST (German Sail Training Foundation), bought the vessel and transformed it into a tall ship according to the plans of Polish naval architect Zygmunt Choreń. On 30 May 1988 she was christened Alexander von Humboldt after the celebrated German explorer. In a historical reference to the sailing ships of the Rickmers shipping company of Bremerhaven, her hull was painted green. Green sails were installed as a marketing tool for advertising campaigns by the ship's sponsor and founding member of DSST, the German brewery Beck's.
"Alex", as she was called by her crew, served as a sail training ship and was the flagship of DSST. She traveled over 300,000 nautical miles (560,000 km) in 20 years (equal to 14 times around the equator). High points every year were tall ships' races and winter cruises to the Canary Islands in the North Atlantic Ocean. During summer months she sailed in the North and Baltic Seas.
Her longest cruise was a voyage in commemoration of Alexander von Humboldt's expedition to South America and the Caribbean. On 18 January 2006, Alex rounded Cape Horn under sail, following the route of the legendary tall ships of the 19th and early 20th century in celebration of her centenary year.
In October 2011 she was taken out of service for DSST and replaced by the newly built Alexander von Humboldt II . She was sold and relocated to the Bahamas in early 2012. In early 2013 she was sailed back to Europe, as the anticipated cruise business in the Caribbean did not materialize; as of November 2013 the hull has been repaired and repainted, but bowthruster and main propeller have been permanently removed.
In 2014, she was converted into a small hotel (42 bunk beds in 16 cabins) and restaurant. Since 19 April 2015, she was located in the Europahafen Bremen, with plans to move her to the Schlachte in 2016. The move took place on October 24 of that year, with the masts and rigging removed to make the ship fit underneath the three bridges she had to pass to reach her final destination. [1]
Aktien-Gesellschaft „Weser" was one of the major German shipbuilding companies, located at the Weser River in Bremen. Founded in 1872 it was finally closed in 1983. All together, A.G. „Weser" built about 1,400 ships of different types, including many warships. A.G. „Weser" was the leading company in the Deutsche Schiff- und Maschinenbau AG, a cooperation of eight German shipbuilding companies between 1926 and 1945.
Europa is a steel-hulled barque registered in the Netherlands. Originally she was a German lightship, named Senator Brockes and built in 1911 at the H.C. Stülcken & Sohn shipyard in Hamburg, Germany. Until 1977, she was in use by the German Federal Coast Guard as a lightship on the river Elbe. A Dutchman bought the vessel in 1985 and in 1994 she was fully restored as a barque, a three-mast rigged vessel, and retrofitted for special-purpose sail-training.
Gorch Fock I is a German three-mast barque, the first of a series built as school ships for the German Reichsmarine in 1933.
USCGC Eagle (WIX-327), formerly the Horst Wessel and also known as the Barque Eagle, is a 295-foot (90 m) barque used as a training cutter for future officers of the United States Coast Guard. She is one of only two active commissioned sailing vessels in the United States military today, along with USS Constitution which is ported in Boston Harbor. She is the seventh Coast Guard cutter to bear the name in a line dating back to 1792, including the Revenue Cutter Eagle.
Royal Clipper is a steel-hulled five-masted fully rigged tall ship used as a cruise ship. She was redesigned by Robert McFarlane of McFarlane ShipDesign, for Star Clippers Ltd. of Sweden, the same designer behind the cruise company's first two vessels. This third one was built using an existing steel hull designed by Zygmunt Choreń that was modified by the Gdańsk Shipyard, where 24 metres (79 ft) was added to its length.
The Gorch Fock is a tall ship of the German Navy, built in 1958 as a replacement for the original Gorch Fock built in 1933 which was taken as war reparations by the Soviet Union after World War II, renamed Tovarishch, and returned to Germany in 2003.
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.
STS Sedov, formerly Magdalene Vinnen II (1921–1936) and Kommodore Johnsen (–1948), is a four-masted steel barque that for almost 80 years was the largest traditional sailing ship in operation. Originally built as a German cargo ship, Sedov is today a sail training vessel, training cadets from the universities of Kaliningrad, Saint Petersburg and Astrakhan. She participates regularly in the big maritime international events as a privileged host and has also been a regular participant in The Tall Ships' Races.
The Tall Ships Races are races for sail training "tall ships". The races are designed to encourage international friendship and training for young people in the art of sailing. The races are held annually in European waters and consists of two racing legs of several hundred nautical miles, and a "cruise in company" between the legs. Over one half of the crew of each ship participating in the races must consist of young people.
SMS Hamburg was the second member of the seven-vessel Bremen class of light cruisers, built for the German Kaiserliche Marine in the early 1900s. She and her sister ships were ordered under the 1898 Naval Law that required new cruisers be built to replace obsolete vessels in the fleet. The design for the Bremen class was derived from the preceding Gazelle class, utilizing a larger hull that allowed for additional boilers that increased speed. Named for the city of Hamburg, the ship was armed with a main battery of ten 10.5 cm (4.1 in) guns and had a top speed of 22 knots.
Alexander von Humboldt II is a German sailing ship built as a replacement for the ship Alexander von Humboldt, which had been launched in 1906 and used for sail training since 1988. Constructed by Brenn- und Verformtechnik (BVT) in Bremen, the new ship was launched in 2011.
Roald Amundsen, originally named Vilm, is a German steel-ship built on the Elbe River in 1952. Having worked in different areas, she was refitted in 1992 to 1993 as a brig and now serves as a sail training ship. During summer, she usually operates in the Baltic Sea, and usually embarks for journeys to farther destinations for winter, including several trans-Atlantic crossings.
The Schlachte is a promenade along the east bank of the River Weser in the old town of Bremen in the north of Germany. Once one of the city's harbours, it is now popular for its restaurants, beer gardens and river boats.
Amorina was built as a lightship in 1934 for the Swedish maritime authorities then designated as lightship 33. It was bought by private parties in 1979, converted to have masts installed and competed in the 1983 Cutty Sark Tall Ships Race.
SMS Charlotte was a German screw corvette built for the Kaiserliche Marine in the 1880s, being laid down in April 1883, launched in September 1885, and commissioned in November 1886. The only vessel of her class, Charlotte was the last sailing warship built for the German navy. She was armed with a battery of eighteen 15 cm (5.9 in) guns.
Joh. C. Tecklenborg was a German shipbuilding company, located at the river Geeste in Bremerhaven. About 440 ships of different types, including many famous tall sailing ships were built at the yard. Founded in 1841, it was finally closed in 1928.
The Nix class was a pair of avisos built for the Prussian Navy in the early 1850s. The class comprised two ships: SMS Nix and Salamander. They were ordered as part of a modest program to strengthen the fleet at the urging of Prince Adalbert of Prussia in the immediate aftermath of the First Schleswig War, which had demonstrated that the weak fleet could not challenge the ability of Denmark to impose a blockade of Prussian and German ports. They were small vessels with a shallow draft, since they were intended to operate close to shore to defend Prussia's coast. Neither vessel saw significant service in the Prussian Navy before being sold to the British Royal Navy in exchange for the frigate Thetis in 1855. They were renamed Weser and Recruit, respectively, and the former saw action during the Crimean War in the Black Sea later in 1855. The two ships saw little activity after their sale to Britain, with Recruit being laid up in 1861 and Weser following in 1865. Recruit was sold for merchant service in 1870, while Weser was discarded in 1873.
SMS Grille was an aviso of the Prussian Navy built in France in the mid-1850s as part of a naval expansion program directed by Prince Adalbert of Prussia, who saw the need for a stronger fleet. She was authorized in 1855 in the aftermath of the First Schleswig War, which had demonstrated the weakness of the Prussian fleet. Grille was the first screw propeller-driven steamship to be built for Prussia; all earlier steam-powered vessels had been paddle steamers.
Germany
Bahamas
Antigua and Barbuda
