Flying P-Liner

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Launched as Padua in 1926 as the last P-Liner and is the only one still active: today's Krusenstern
Model of the P-Liner Pamir in the black, white and red F. Laeisz colors
Four-masted bark Passat in Lübeck-Travemünde

Flying P-Liner or shortly P-liners called sailors in the time of Windjammer sincerely sailing ships of the Hamburg shipping company F. Laeisz (better known under the symbol FL ). The ships, whose names all began with P , were famous for their speed and safety, they were painted in the shipping company colors black (hull above the waterline ), white (waterline) and red ( underwater ship ).

The vernacular called the ships Hamburg four-masters , which is also the high German title variant of the old sailor's song Hamborger Veermaster .

Establishment of the reputation of the Flying P-Liners

The fast sailors were famous for their robustness and speed regardless of the weather and their reliability came close to that of a regular service that was otherwise only given to steamships. Carl Laeisz always told his captains: "My ships can and should make fast trips!"

According to statistics from the classification society Bureau Veritas from 1908, an average of 3% of all sailing ships were lost annually, while the Flying P-Liners only lost 0.9% per year. FL did not lose any of its four or five masters through its own fault (the Pitlochry were lost in 1913 after colliding with steamers south of the English Channel, the Prussians in 1910 due to stranding after colliding with steamers near Dover, the Pangani in 1913 in the English Channel after colliding with steamers (30 dead) , the Pamir sank in the Atlantic in a hurricane in 1957 (80 deaths) and the Pechili in Valparaíso in 1919 due to stranding in the port). However, in the case of the Pangani, the maritime court hearing revealed that the navigation lights could not be seen by the opponent in the collision on the night of the collision due to an unfavorable sail guidance.

Lower shrouds with wooden rungs on the main mast of the Passat

The secret of the success of the Laeisz ships was their always state-of-the-art technology, the stronger construction, which goes far beyond the usual dimensions, and the associated stability against the rigors of wind and sea, plus excellent maintenance, even on the wooden ships. One example is the fact that on many Laeisz ships the shrouds were not equipped with weaving lines (short, transverse rope connectors), but with wooden rungs as steps for embarking (can still be seen today on the Passat , which lies in Travemünde ). According to reports, it happened that Laeisz ships circled Cape Horn in a strong storm, while other ships had to seek shelter from the weather. Thanks to its good reputation, the shipping company found capable captains and was able to retain hand-picked crews through good treatment, catering and payment. In addition, there was a first-class organization that took care of the speedy handling and handling of goods through local agents in the remote saltpetre ports of Chile . This shortened the expensive idle times compared to the majority of the competition by days or weeks. The large French shipping company AD Bordes & Fils , also known for its beautiful and fast sailors, did a similar thing.

In addition, at the latest since the famous tall ship captain Robert Hilgendorf , who knew and used Mathew Fontaine Maury's works ( wind and current map of the North Atlantic, sailing instructions ) early on , all available data, in particular the observations of the German captains about the wind and current conditions on the way, became central collected, evaluated and thus improved and refined. Robert Hilgendorf, who as Flying German or Teufel von Hamburg (Düwel von Hamborg) became the most famous sailing ship captain of the Laeisz fleet, was the first captain of the legendary five-masted bark Potosi to set numerous new travel records. Later on, the big barque made excellent trips with other skippers. She made the journey from Chile to England in 1904 in a record time of 57 days, the opposite direction (1905) in 59 days, around Cape Horn . Between 1896 and 1914, none of her 22 trips to Chile took her more than 86 days.

History of the Flying P-Liner

Four-masted barque Peking , until 2016 a museum ship in New York, since August 2017 under restoration in the Wewelsflether Peters shipyard in Germany
Four-masted barque Pomerania , today a museum ship in Mariehamn on the Åland Islands

Ferdinand Laeisz bought the first ship in 1839 . The brig Carl bore his son's name. After problems with the sailor, own ships were not used again until 1853, when Carl Laeisz joined the company.

In 1857, F. Laeisz initiated the construction of a new sailing ship, a small barque after the nickname of the shipowner's wife Sophie Laeisz (1838–1912) Pudel . Then all other new buildings under sail and finally all the sailing ships owned by FL wore names that begin with the letter P began. The last Laeisz sailors without such a name was the Bark Henriette Behn, 1885 against Mexico was stranded . In total, 66 of the 86 sailing ships in FL history had names that began with "P".

Successors Carl Laeisz and Carl Ferdinand Laeisz were among the last shipowners who used cargo-carrying sailing ships and were very successful with them. The shipping company mainly used its ships in the saltpeter trade , on which natural saltpeter was transported from Chile to Europe. On the exit, industrial goods were transported from Europe to Chile or they were driven under ballast . The route led around Cape Horn on the outward and return journey .

The shipping company Laeisz believed in the future of steel sailors and experimented with five-masters, initially with the five-masted barque Potosi from 1895. The five-masted full ship Prussia was supposed to be the prototype for the sailing ship of the future in 1902 , but the leap in size did not prove itself. The ship was no longer at ease with the captains and crews and 8,000 tons of cargo for the departure to the remote ports could hardly be organized. When the Prussians were lost in the English Channel off Dover in 1910 because a mail steamer that had to avoid the sailing ship took the right of way, Laeisz had commissioned the Peking  and the Passat a year earlier  , both only half the size. These four-masted barques seemed to be ideal in size and type for the saltpeter trip and were the model for all later new buildings.

During the First World War , many P-liners were interned on their saltpeter journeys in Chile (the Pamir still reached the port of Santa Cruz de La Palma) and then had to be delivered to the Allies as reparations . However, the previous internment in Chile turned out to be a stroke of luck: At the end of the war, the Allies allowed the shipowners to load freight on their own account on the ships' return journeys to Europe before they delivered the ships. The saltpetre cargoes achieved such great profits that F. Laeisz was able to buy back most of the ships with the proceeds; In addition, the recipient countries, in which the knowledge of tall ships had largely been lost, did not know what to do with tall ships. F. Laeisz, however, continued to believe in the future of sailing ships over long distances and with goods whose transport times played a subordinate role compared to transport costs. The company bought back its ships very cheaply and even commissioned newbuildings. The last ship was the Padua (today Krusenstern ), which was launched in 1926 at the Joh. C. Tecklenborg shipyard and was supposed to be the last tall ship to be built solely for freight transport.

In 1931 Laeisz was still operating a fleet of six sailors on the saltpeter voyage, which at that time were already being noticed by journalists and writers (e.g. Alan Villiers and Irving Johnson ). But the consequences of the global economic crisis hit the shipping company and the freighters became less and less profitable. In the 1930s, Laeisz therefore sold several ships - including the Pamir in 1931 and the Passat in 1932  - to the Finnish shipowner Gustaf Erikson , who for a few years still operated up to 21 windjammers in cargo shipping , including many P-liners.

At the beginning of the Second World War , Laeisz only owned two windjammers. In 1941 the Priwall was interned in Chile, then given away to Chile and, renamed Lautaro , destroyed by a cargo fire in 1945. The last Flying P-Liner, the Padua, went to the Soviet Union as a reparation payment in 1946 and has been sailing under the Soviet or Russian flag since then as a sailing training ship Krusenstern . After the end of the war, FL started again with the two fishing cutters Plisch and Plum , which carried three auxiliary sails. FL then concentrated on motor shipping and did not buy back a sailing ship. The era of the Flying P-Liner was finally over.

Only four Laeisz windjammers are still preserved today (see preserved Flying P-Liner ). Apart from their legendary reputation, the Flying P-Liners also had the tradition of F. Laeisz to start most of their own ship names with "P". Almost all container ships and bulk carriers today (as of 2008) have such names; the only exception are four container ships built in 2001 and 2002 with double names, the first half of which is Hanjin , followed by a second name beginning with a “P” (e.g. Hanjin Pretoria ).

List of Flying P liners

Received Flying P-Liner

Four Flying P-Liners are preserved:

All Flying P-Liners at a glance

A total of 83 Flying P-Liners were built:

  • Carl, wooden brig
  • Sophie & Friedericke ex Gladiator, wooden schooner
  • Adolph, wooden brig
  • Pudel, wooden barque , was the first "P" in the series in 1857. "Poodle" was the nickname of Carl Laeisz 'wife Sophie because of her noticeably frizzy hair.
  • Schiller (1855), wooden brig
  • Pacific, wooden brig
  • India, wooden barque
  • Costa Rica, wooden barque
  • Republic, wooden barque
  • Neptune, wooden barque
  • Peru, wooden brig
  • Panama ex Marbs, wooden barque
  • Persia, wooden barque
  • Louis Kniffler ex Cecilia, wooden barque
  • Patria, wooden barque
  • Princess, wooden brig
  • Pearl, wooden barque
  • Los Hermanos ex North Point, wooden brig
  • Dad, wooden barque
  • Pyrmont, wooden barque
  • Carolina, wooden barque
  • Don Julio, wooden barque
  • Henrique Teodoro, wooden barque
  • Mercedes, wooden barque
  • Ricardo, wooden barque
  • Rosa y Isabel, wooden barque
  • Panama, wooden barque
  • Professor ex Flottbek, iron barque
  • Hunsingo, wooden barque
  • Patagonia, wooden barque
  • Pacha ex Isabellita, wooden barque
  • Polynesia (1874), iron full ship
  • Henriette Behn, wooden barque
  • Paladin, wooden barque
  • Pandur, wooden barque
  • Paradoxical, wooden barque
  • Parnassus, wooden barque
  • Poncho ex Weymouth, iron barque
  • Pluto ex Aminta, full iron ship
  • Paquita ex Irma ex Maggie Leslie, iron barque
  • Baboon ex Tiverton, iron barque
  • Parsifal, iron barque
  • Puck ex Peep O'Day, iron barque
  • Pirate, iron barque
  • Pestalozzi, iron barque
  • Plus, iron barque
  • Potrimpos, iron barque
  • Prompt (1887), steel barque (first German tall ship made of steel)
  • Pamelia, steel barque
  • Pergamon, steel barque
  • Potsdam, steel barque
  • Paposo, iron barque
  • Palmyra, full steel ship (all other sailors made of steel)
  • Parchim, full ship
  • Pera, full ship
  • Pampa , full steel ship
  • Posen (1902) ex Prussia (I), full ship
  • Placilla , four-masted barque(1892–1905), → Optima (stranded on the Haisbro sandbanks)
  • Pisagua , four-masted barque (1892–1913,strandedunder the Norwegian flag near the Shetland Islands )
  • Pitlochry , four-masted barque (1894–1913, sunk south of the English Channel after colliding with a steamer)
  • Potosi , five-masted barque (1895–1925), → Flora (sunkas a burnt-out, drifting wreck off Patagonia )
    The Prussians under full equipment
  • Persimmon ex Drumrock, four-masted barque,Helwig VinnenAllen DollarDrumrock
  • Prussia , five-masted full ship (1902–1910)
  • Pangani , four-masted barque (1903–1913, rammed and sunk by steamer in the English Channel, 30 dead)
  • Petschili , four-masted barque (stranded by a Chilean north storm after breaking anchor chain)
  • Pamir , four-masted barque (1905–1957,sunkas a training ship in a hurricane )
  • Pomerania (see above )
  • Peiho ex Argo ex Brynymor, full ship
  • Pirna ex Osorno ex Beethoven, full ship
  • Pinnas ex Fitzjames, full ship
  • Ponape ex Regina Elena, four-masted barque, → BellhousePonape
  • Penang ex Albert Rickmers, Bark
  • Beijing (specified above )
  • Passat (see above )
  • Perim ex Radiant, Bark
  • Pelikan ex Dione, full ship
  • Parma ex Arrow, four-masted barque
  • Penguin ex Erasmo, four-masted barque, → WeserJacobsen
  • Perkeo ex Brilliant, four-masted barque, → Bell (largest four-masted barque ever built, 3,765 GRT )
  • Pola , four-masted barque (never flew under the FL flag, as a war reparation in 1919/1920 to France; → Richelieu (1924),burned outin Baltimore 1927)
  • Priwall , four-masted barque, → Lautaro (exploded off the coast of Peru after a fire in 1945)
  • Pellworm ex Faith ex Maréchal Suchet, full ship, → Hein Godenwind (accommodation and youth hostel ship), sunk in the Curonian Lagoon in 1944
  • Padua (specified above )

literature

  • Hans Blöss The glory and fate of the "Potosi" and "Prussians", Hamburg's and the world's greatest sailors. Verlag Schmidt & Klaunig, Kiel 1960 (includes complete logbooks for several trips)
  • Thomas Böttcher: Four-masted bark Passat, a construction documentation . 1st edition. Oceanum Verlag eK, Wiefelstede 2013, ISBN 978-3-86927-012-8 .
  • Jochen Brennecke: Windjammer. The great report on the development, travels and fate of the "Queens of the Seven Seas". Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft, Herford, 3rd edition 1984; ISBN 3-7822-0009-8
  • Andreas Gondesen: The last Flying P-Liners. Pamir, Passat, their sisters and half-sisters built between 1902 and 1926. Writings of the German Maritime Museum, Bremerhaven No. 69. Oceanum Verlag, Wiefelstede 2010. ISBN 978-3-86927-069-2 .
  • Uwe Hansen, Dirk Poppinga: 100 years of the four-masted barque Passat . 1st edition. Oceanum Verlag eK, Wiefelstede 2011, ISBN 978-3-86927-006-7 .
  • Peter Klingbeil: The Flying P-Liner. The sailing ships of the shipping company F. Laeisz. Verlag "Die Hanse", Hamburg, 1998 and 2000, ISBN 3-434-52562-9
  • Hans Georg Prager: "F. Laeisz ”from cargo sailors to bulk carriers. Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Herford 1974, ISBN 3-7822-0096-9
  • Wolfgang Steusloff: The maiden voyage of the four-masted barque Padua. Oceanum Verlag, Wiefelstede, 2009, ISBN 978-3-86927-131-6
  • Hans Jörg Furrer: The four- and five-masted square sailors of the world, Koehler ISBN 3-7822-0341-0
  • W. Laas, The big sailing ships: Their development and future (1908), including a list of Laeisz sailors

Web links

Commons : Flying P-Liner  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Berliner Börsenzeitung, 23-12-1909, p. 9/14: F. Laeisz orders "Peking" and "Passat". In: http://www.rottbank.org/sonst/peking/PEKING.html . Dieter Merges, accessed December 8, 2018 .
  2. Dieter Merges: "Pamir": 1914-1921. Retrieved December 8, 2018 .
  3. Company. Modern ships secure the future. "From 1930 to 1978" on the F. Laeisz website (accessed March 3, 2008)
  4. Fleet. Container on the F. Laeisz website ( Memento from October 31, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (accessed March 3, 2008)
  5. From New York to Wewelsfleth: Restoration in the Peters Werft: The "Peking" arrives at dusk
  6. AJVilliers: The gallant "Parma". In: The National Geographic Magazine. archive.org, pp. 37–75 , accessed on February 11, 2018 (English, free download (on loan), with many photos).
  7. Photo: Viermastbark Priwall ( Memento from June 15, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Retrieved January 19, 2009
  8. The Great Sailing Ships: Their Development and Future. Retrieved August 10, 2018 .
  9. ^ Ships of the F. Laeisz company. Retrieved August 10, 2018 .