Old Landungsbrücke (Swakopmund)

Jetty
	; Jetty in Swakopmund (2018)
Data
place	Swakopmund , Namibia
Construction year	1904–1905, from 1912
Coordinates	22 ° 40 ′ 51 ″ S , 14 ° 31 ′ 14 ″ E Coordinates: 22 ° 40 ′ 51 ″ S , 14 ° 31 ′ 14 ″ E

Aerial photograph of the Jetty (2017)

The old landing stage in Swakopmund , usually referred to as a jetty , is a former pier ( pier ) in the South Atlantic in what is now Namibia . It comes from the German colonial times of German South West Africa .

history

Historical photo (around 1914)

The foundation stone for the first wooden bridge was laid on September 1, 1899 at the site of today's jetty. It turned out to be of little use, which is why the German engineers built a pier not far north to establish a coastal port. This project failed until 1902, so that on October 25, 1904, a 60-man railway construction company began building today's bridge. They were housed in the old barracks .

The jetty was completed on April 25, 1905. It was built 275 meters into the sea and was nine meters wide. On the bridge there were rail tracks with a 60 centimeter gauge and six cranes with a maximum lifting force of 2 to 20 tons.

Due to the difficult weather conditions and the frequent spring tides , the construction of a steel bridge began in 1912. The work was carried out by Flander AG, Benroth and Grün & Bilfinger . Originally a bridge length of 640 meters was planned. Due to the outbreak of the First World War , it was only 262 meters long.

Jetty shortly before extensive renovation (2006)

By 1983 the jetty deteriorated and was closed. Only donations of 300,000 Namibian dollars made the first maintenance work possible. However, it was not possible to reopen the bridge. Comprehensive renovation was only started in 2005 with further donations after the city administration recognized the importance of the jetty for tourism. The jetty reopened on October 6, 2006. The last section was opened in October 2010 on the initiative of a local catering company.

Economical meaning

Since Swakopmund did not have a port, the jetty was mainly used to land goods and people. From 1907 the use for export began, especially of copper and Karibib marble . From around 1934, the jetty was primarily used for fishing , as the sea had been largely silted up by floods up to the end of the bridge . Today the bridge is primarily used as a tourist destination with a viewing platform and restaurant at the far end.

literature

Ursula Massman: Swakopmund: A Chronicle of the Town's People, Places and Progress , Society for Scientific Development and Museum, 1983.

Web links

Commons : Swakopmund Jetty - collection of images, videos and audio files

Historical recordings / drawings (English)

Individual evidence

^ Hans Emil Lenssen: Chronicle of German South West Africa 1883 - 1915. 7th edition, Namibia Scientific Society, Windhoek 2002, ISBN 3-933117-51-8 , p. 99.
^ Journal of the Association of German Engineers , No. 83, Issue 26–52, Association of German Engineers, 1939.
^ ^A ^b The Jetty 1905 Story. Jetty 1905 restaurant. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
^ Fischer: Landungsbrücken, in: Heinrich Schnee (Ed.): Deutsches Kolonial-Lexikon . Volume II, Quelle & Meyer, Leipzig 1920, p. 426 f.

[1] Hans Emil Lenssen: Chronicle of German South West Africa 1883 - 1915. 7th edition, Namibia Scientific Society, Windhoek 2002, ISBN 3-933117-51-8 , p. 99.

[2] Journal of the Association of German Engineers , No. 83, Issue 26–52, Association of German Engineers, 1939.

[jetty1905-3] A ^b The Jetty 1905 Story. Jetty 1905 restaurant. Retrieved July 17, 2019.

[4] Fischer: Landungsbrücken, in: Heinrich Schnee (Ed.): Deutsches Kolonial-Lexikon . Volume II, Quelle & Meyer, Leipzig 1920, p. 426 f.