Preussen (ship)
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The Preussen was a steel-hulled five masted ship-rigged windjammer built in 1902 for the famous German F. Laeisz shipping company. Until recently, she was the only fully rigged vessel (i.e. a ship carrying square sails on all masts) with five masts ever built.
[edit] History
Preussen was build at the Tecklenborg shipping yard in Geestemünde and launched in 1902. She was successfully used in the saltpeter trade with Chile. However, in November 1910, on an outbound voyage carrying pianos for Chile, she collided with a small British steamer who had underestimated her speed and tried to cross before her bows. The ship was seriously damaged and lost much of the forward sailing equipment, making it impossible to steer the ship to safety. She was driven onto a beach near Dover by a November gale, and rendered unsalvagable.
[edit] Technical data
Preussen was steel-built, with a waterline length of 124 m and a total hull length of 132 m. The hull was 16.4 m wide and the ship had a displacement of 11150 tons, for an effective carrying capacity of 8000 tons. The 5 masts were fully rigged, with courses, upper and lower topsails, upper and lower topgallant sails, and royals. Counting staysails, she carried 46 (according to other sources 47) sails with a total sail area of 4600-5600 square meters. Not only the hull was steel, masts and spars were constructed of steel tubing, and most of the rigging was steel cable.
Under good conditions, the ship could reach a speed of 17 knots. Preussen was manned by a crew of 45, which was supported by two steam engines powering the pumps and the loading gear.
[edit] References
- Oliver E. Allen: Die Windjammer, Time-Life Books, 1980 (Original US edition: 1978)
- Björn Landström: Das Schiff, C. Bertelmann Verlag, 1961
