Borussia (ship, 1905)
 the Borussia
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The third Borussia of the Hamburg-American Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft (Hapag) was a single ship built by Krupp's Germania shipyard in Kiel, which was to be used as a troop transport or emigrant ship.
On October 22, 1907, Borussia capsized when taking over coal on the Tejo near Lisbon . Three people were killed.
Building history
The Borussia purchases for since 1904 again increased East Asia trip of Hapag. The company had withdrawn from the Reichspostdampferlinie operated jointly with the NDL , but agreed with the NDL that a freight line would continue to exist on which ships with up to 40 cabin passengers could be operated. When making the concession, the NDL had certainly thought of older existing steamers from Hapag such as the A-Class or the former steamers of the Kingsin line . However, as early as 1903, Hapag had ordered new ships of the Rhenania class , which then seriously competed with the NDL, as they had better, albeit smaller, passenger facilities that were considerably slower than the imperial mail steamers, but the journey to Japan was one sensationally low passage price. The Borussia differed from the single-screw ships of the Rhenania class built at Bremer Vulkan in that it had a twin screw drive and the passenger compartments were considerably simpler. In civil operation, the ship could carry 100 cabin passengers and over 1700 passengers in the tween deck. As a troop transport, it was supposed to carry 1,350 soldiers. The ship launched in Kiel on March 24, 1905, was taken over by Hapag on July 15, 1905.
In the service of Hapag
On July 30, 1905, the new steamer set off from Hamburg on its maiden voyage to East Asia. In 1906, Hapag was commissioned to carry out the replacement transports for the armed forces deployed in East Asia. Since 1904, two transports have usually taken place, on the one hand to partly replace the personnel of the garrison of the Kiautschou protected area and on the other hand to replace around half of the crews of the cruiser squadron . Hapag used Borussia for the transports that left Wilhelmshaven on January 13, 1906 with the so-called garrison transport and, after a stay in Tsingtau from February 26 to March 7, returned to Wilhelmshaven on April 19, 1906. The second voyage began on May 10th in Hamburg, where the ship returned on August 12th after a week-long stay in Tsingtau.
The next use of the ship took place on September 15, 1906 to Brazil . The Rugia and Rhaetia , which had previously been deployed to East Asia, were also used on this route in 1906 , as Hapag stopped passenger transport to East Asia after negotiations with the NDL.
In 1907 Borussia carried out the replacement transport for the cruiser squadron, which began on April 26th in Wilhelmshaven and ended on August 1st in Hamburg.
The downfall of Borussia
On October 22nd, 1907, the Borussia called on the return voyage from Brazil with a load of coffee and tobacco and 44 passengers under Captain Hansen to Lisbon to take over 400 tons of coal and fresh water for the rest of the journey to Hamburg. The coal and water were taken over from barges on the Tejo . Almost at the end of the coal takeover and when the passengers were returning from a short shore excursion, the anchored ship drifted somewhat. The Borussia got into a slight incline, and water penetrated the ship through the open charcoal port. Attempts to beach the ship with tugs failed. The skew continued to increase, and finally, the capsized vessel at 38 ° 41 ' "30 N , 0 9 ° 11'" W . A cabin boy, a travel agency interpreter and a passenger drowned.
The Maritime Administration found that the captain and crew had responded correctly to the threat. The ship's charcoal gates were much too deep due to the extra weight during construction. The shipping company should have complained about this at the time of acceptance. The captain criticized this weak point when he took over command. However, there was no remedy.
literature
- Arnold Kludas : The History of German Passenger Shipping Vol. III Leap growth 1900 to 1914 , Writings of the German Shipping Museum, Volume 20
- Claus Rothe: German ocean passenger ships 1896 to 1918 . Steiger Verlag, 1986, ISBN 3-921564-80-8 .
- Otto J. Seiler: East Asia trip . Verlag ESMittler & Sohn, Herford 1988, ISBN 3-8132-0271-2 .