Preussen

A five-masted full-rigged steel ship built in 1902 by John C. Tecklenburg, Gestemünde. Her dimensions were 124,25×16,30×8,24 meters [407'8×53'6×27'1] and tonnage of 5081 GRT, 4788 NRT and displacement of 11150 tons. The midship island was 93 ft long.
Equipped with Jarvis' Patent brace winches for the lower and top-sail yards. The fall winches were of Hall's Patent. The sail-area was 5560 square meters [59.770 sq feet].

In a thorough analysis of sailing ship performance conducted by Captain M. Prager at the Deutschen Seewarte and published in Annalen der Hydrographie in 1905 under the title Die Fahrtgeschwindigkeit der Segelschiffe auf großen Reisen, figures based on the first four voyages of the Preussen were presented. According to Prager, the best average performance of the Preussen was 13,7 knots in a force 8 wind "backstags" or 9-15 points from the wind. The corresponding figure for the Potosi was 13,1 knots in a force 9 wind.

In her 13 nitrate voyages the Preussen loaded between 7729 and 7998 metric tons of nitrate.

On the 18th of June 1899 the German Kaiser Wilhelm II, who showed a keen interest in naval matters, visted the F. Laeisz company and was shown around the five-masted barque Potosi by the legendary Captain Hilgendorf. At the end of the tour the Kaiser turned to Carl Laeisz and asked: "Na, Laeisz, wann kommt denn nun das Fünfmastvollschiff?"

1902 May 7: Launched at the shipyard of John C. Tecklenburg, Gestemünde, for F. Laeisz, Hamburg. Assigned the German signal RMPT. Employed in the nitrate trade from the South America West Coast to Europe.
1902-1909: In command of Captain Boye R. Petersen.
1902 July 31 - October 8: Sailed from Geestemünde to Iquique in 65 days from Start Point.
1902 October 24 - January 29: Sailed from Iquique to Hamburg. Lizard Point was passed 79 days out from Iquique.
1903 February 16 - May 1: Sailed from Hamburg to Iquique in 57 days from Lizard Point.
1903 May 14 - July 29: Sailed from Iquique to Hamburg.
1903 August 20 - November 6: Sailed from Hamburg to Tocopilla.
1903 November 18 - February 10: Sailed from Tocopilla to Hamburg.
1904 March 1 - May 5: Sailed from Hamburg to Tocopilla.
1904 May 18 - August 12: Sailed from Tocopilla to Hamburg.
1904 September 6 - November 12: Sailed from Hamburg to Iquique.
1904 November 22 - February 4: Sailed from Iquique to Hamburg.
1905 February 25 - May 23: Sailed from Hamburg to Iquique.
1905 May 31 - August 21: Sailed from Iquique to Hamburg.
1905 September 9 - November 22: Sailed from Hamburg to Iquique.
1905 December 1 - February 17: Sailed from Iquique to Hamburg.
1906 March 15 - May 29: Sailed from Hamburg to Taltal.
1906 June 10 - August 26: Sailed from Taltal to Hamburg. The best 24 hour run was 353 miles on July 5.
1906 September 20 - December 1: Sailed from Hamburg to Taltal.
1906 December 17 - February 19: Sailed from Taltal to Hamburg.
1907 May 2 - July 27: Sailed from Hamburg to Valparaiso.
1907 November 4 - January 16: Sailed from Tocopilla to Hamburg.
1908 March 10 - April 13: Sailed from Hamburg to New York.
1908 Spring: Chartered to Standard Oil Co. by Funch, Edye & Co.
1908 May 27 - September 16: Sailed from New York with a cargo of case oil to Yokohama in 112 days.
1908 October 16 - December 30: Sailed from Yokohama to Taltal.
1909 January 20 - April 5: Sailed from Tocopilla to Hamburg.
1909 April: Captain B.R. Petersen was replaced by Captain Hinrich Nissen.
1909 May 8 - July 26: Sailed from Hamburg to Taltal.
1909 August 23 - November 25: Sailed from Tocopilla to Hamburg.
1910 March 8 - May 19: Sailed from Hamburg to Taltal.
1910 July 3 - August 20: Sailed from Taltal to Hamburg.
1910 October 31: Left Hamburg for Valparaiso.
1910 November 6: Run down by the Newhaven-Dieppe cross-Channel steamer Brighton shortly before midnight. The Brighton had mis-judged the speed of the big sailing ship and tried to cross her bows but struck her abreast the foremast and the bowsprit and the fore-rigging of Preussen was damaged. Anchored off Dungeness but both anchor chains parted in the rising wind. The two assisting tugs which were trying to get her into the eastern entrance of the Dover harbour were not able to hold her against the wind but had to let her go. She subsequently drifted ashore at Dover at about 16:30 and was lost.
The Admiralty Court decision of April 12, 1911, was reviewed by the Syren and Shipping journal of which a translation into Swedish was published in the Nautisk Tidskrift Vol. 4 (1911).

References:

Four- and five masted ships, general references.
Blöß, H.: Glanz und Schicksal der Potosi und Preußen, Hamburgs und der Welt größte Segler.
Schmidt, Kiel, 1960.8vo, 513 pp, ill.
Hamecher, H.: Fünfmast-Vollschiff Preußen Königen der See. Der Lebensweg eines Tiefwasserseglers.
Hamecher, Kassel, 1993.
Kaemmerer, W.: Das Fünfmast-Vollschiff Preußen, erbaut von Joh. C. Tecklenborg A.-G., Schiffswerft und Maschinenfabrik in Bremerhaven-Geestemünde.
Zeitschrift der Vereins deutscher Ingenieure, Bd. 48, Nr 34, Berlin, 1904.
Prager, M.: Die Fahrtgeschwindigkeit der Segelschiffe auf großen Reisen.
Annalen der Hydrographie, 1905.
Prager, M.: Vergleich zwischen dem Fünfmastvollschiff Preußen und der Fünfmast Potosi auf den Reisen nach der Westküste Südamerikas und zurück.
Annalen der Hydrographie, 1908.

Updated 2000-11-07 by Lars Bruzelius.

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