Ewerführer
Ewerführer (in port jargon Schlickschuber, Schutenschubser ) is the name of the leader of a barge in the Hamburg river area. The name Ewerführer is derived from the boat type Ewer , an Elbe sailing boat .
history
Ewerführer is the second oldest port occupation after being a stevedore in the Port of Hamburg. Initially, boats with folding masts were used to sail at least a few stretches and still be able to get into the inner city. Since sailing boats proved impractical in the harbor, they were replaced by barges - open boats without their own propulsion.
The Ewerführer with their barges had the task of transporting goods to and from the seagoing vessels in the Hamburg port area when they could not dock on land. Since the majority of the quays were not built until the 1880s, the transport of goods in the port of Hamburg by barges was the rule before that. In 1913, 52 percent of the goods from the Staatskai were still being shipped with barges. In 1896, 95 percent of the well-organized Ewer leaders took part in the great Hamburg port workers' strike . In 1899 around 2,000 people worked on the barges in Hamburg and Altona .
The stevedores unloaded the cargoes from the ocean-going vessels onto barges. These were taken over by the Ewerführer in order to be brought to the stores and warehouses, from 1888 exclusively to the Speicherstadt or to other ships and unloaded there again. The barges were originally moved by muscle power. Either it was gewriggt or with a Peekhaken punted or pulling and pushing at it sunk to the quay walls rings or metal rods (which today still be easily recognized) or travels to posts and other vessels. Later, when the port expanded to the south side of the Elbe, tugs were used. The more the tugs and larger barges prevailed, the less important the Ewerführer became as a trained skipper.
Life of the Ewerführer
Until the end of the 1880s, Ewerführer still lived on their barges, which was common at that time. They had a separate room from the hold with a bunk , table and chair and a stove. Thus, they were always present for the lighting and were always on site against possible looting of the cargo. The Ewerführer were quite creative when it came to the furnishings and interior fittings. A Ewerführer sometimes lived for several weeks on his barge before he went ashore to his family.
education
The Ewerführer was an apprenticeship that originally required four years of training. Today the Ewerführer is a recognized training occupation according to the Vocational Training Act . It is not assigned to any professional field. The mono job is trained in port operations without specialization according to subject or focus, the training lasts three years. In 2005 there were six trainees.
The ordinance was repealed in 2006 and replaced by the profession of port skipper.
today
Around 1980 there were still around 70 to 80 Ewer guides, today (2008) there are still three to five companies. The profession of Ewerführer is threatened with extinction, as more and more conventional general cargo is being shipped in containers. That is why the remaining ewer guides have reoriented themselves and are shipping containers in the Hamburg port area with their barges.
See also
literature
- Michael Grüttner : The world of work at the water's edge. Social history of Hamburg port workers 1886–1914, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1984;
- Arnold Kludas and Harry Braun: Ewerführer. An illustrated history of the Ewerführer on Hamburg's waterways . The Hanseatic League in the European Publishing House; Edition: 2 (2002), ISBN 3-434-52602-1 .
- Maria Möring / Gisela Kühn: The Hamburg Ewerführer in the course of time, Verlag Hanseat. Merkur, Hamburg 1965;
- Jürgen Rath: Work in the Port of Hamburg. Hamburg 1988, ISBN 3-925622-41-1 .
Web links
- Port Schiffer / in the Berufenet the Federal Employment Agency