Freya (ship, 1904)
 The Freya in regular service (before World War I)
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The paddle steamer Freya of the Sylter Dampfschiffahrtsgesellschaft was a side paddle steamer built by the Janssen & Schmilinsky shipyard in Hamburg-Steinwerder, which was used from 1904 to 1927 as a passenger and supply ship for the North Frisian island of Sylt .
history
The Freya was put into service in 1904 as a supplement to the sister ship Frisia, which had been in operation since 1900, and as a replacement for the steamer Westerland by the Sylter Dampfschiffahrtsgesellschaft. The company used the ships in the regular service between Hoyerschleuse (on the mainland) and Munkmarsch (on Sylt) to supply the island and to transport people. Side paddle steamers with shallow drafts had proven themselves for operation in the Wadden Sea and could be used almost all year round, except for extreme weather conditions in the winter months.
Regular service between Munkmarsch and Hoyerschleuse
Already during the construction phase, the previous captain of the paddle steamer Westerland , Carl Nicolai Christiansen (1864–1937) took over the supervision of "his" ship, which was launched on May 20, 1904 in Hamburg-Steinwerder. He would not give up command until almost exactly 23 years later (after the completion of the Hindenburgdamm ). The time in between was filled not only with the daily routine of the regular service between the island and the mainland, but also with a multitude of anecdotes and incidents, which were not least caused by the rigors of the weather.
A special turning point was the time after the First World War when the mainland port of Hoyerschleuse became Danish due to the referendum from 1920. Now goods and passengers had to be transported through Danish territory under “bonded customs”. But that also worked out after a short time.
Excursion steamer on the Trave
With the completion of the Hindenburg dam, the expensive and - despite everything - not harmless ferry connection became unnecessary, and the Freya completed its last trip in regular service on June 1, 1927. At the end of the year she was sold to the Lübeck-Büchener Eisenbahn together with her sister ship Frisia . Both paddle steamers were to become the attraction between Lübeck and Travemünde as excursion boats on the Trave. For this purpose, not only was Travemünde-Linie GmbH founded (as an 80% subsidiary of LBE), but also a cooperation with the marzipan manufacturer Niederegger for the management of the ships. The ship was renamed Adam on June 5, 1928 and began touring with the Eva (ex Frisia ) in May 1928.
A fatal accident with serious consequences on the Adam in early July 1928 in the swing bridge in Lübeck harbor then led to the two steamers being renamed again. Both ships exchanged names on September 4, 1928, because they wanted to precede the swear word "Adam, the executioner", which was already circulating in the vernacular.
Although the attractive offer was often and gladly accepted by the population, there was no economic success. Both ships (now registered as inland vessels) were sold to East Prussia as early as 1933. the Eva (ex Freya ) was acquired by the Tilsit shipowner and captain Wilhelm Skorloff, the Adam (ex Frisia ) went to the August Zedler shipping company in Elbing .
Moonlight rides on the Memel
From Tilsit, company and excursion trips on the then border river Memel both upstream and downstream to the Curonian Lagoon had a long tradition. The paddle steamer Eva (ex Freya ) , who was already getting on in years, started a new phase of life. For this purpose, it was not only overhauled and structurally adapted to the conditions on the Memel, but also received a symbolic new name, Grenzland, on April 22, 1933.
As a transport ship for the wounded on the Baltic Sea
In the last years of the war, the border region was not spared from being included in the evacuation measures from Memelland and East Prussia - like anything that could swim to a certain extent. There is no evidence that the steamer was one of the registered hospital ships, but transports of refugees and wounded on behalf of the Pillau Navy Department are guaranteed. In addition, there is the report of a survivor of the last voyage of the paddle steamer under Captain Max Joh von Hela via Karlskrona and Bornholm to Copenhagen from April 28 to May 3, 1945.
post war period
After brief stops in Hamburg , Travemünde and Lübeck , the border region “stranded” around 1950 in Emden. There she was stationary as a restaurant ship in the port on the Council Delft. In 1966 the owner sold the ship to the Netherlands, where shortly afterwards it sank in a tributary of the Waal due to human inattention .
The "new" Freya
In the meantime there is a "new" Freya , which has little more in common with the original Freya than the name and the fact that it is also a side wheel steamer. The lavishly restored ship has been used for excursions since 1999 - initially only in the sea area around Sylt, now with home port Kiel on the Kiel Canal and as a guest at all major maritime events on the coast. The continuation of the tradition of the original Freya by taking over the ship's name and the shipping company's extremely clever marketing meant that even serious media sometimes confused the two ships. Even in specialist circles it was not always known that there were two different ships of this name. The almost identical age of both ships and their relationship to the Netherlands, where the "new" Freya was launched and the original Freya came to an end , certainly contributed to this .
literature
- Hinrich-Boy Christiansen, Rudolf Kinzinger (ed.): Between Munkmarsch, Memel and Emden - The story of the Sylt paddle steamer "Freya" 1904–1966 . Books on Demand, 2012, ISBN 978-3-8482-0585-1 .
- District Court LÜBECK; Inland shipping register , BSR No. 718
- District Court LÜBECK; Shipping register , SSR No. 628
- District Court EMDEN; Inland shipping register , BSR No. 430 and 947
- Information from DSM Bremerhaven dated September 6, 2012
- Jürgen Blunck: Cast off at Trave and Wakenitz! - History of Lübeck passenger shipping ; Lübeck 1994
- Friedrich Christiansen: The captains Christiansen, told from logbooks ; Berlin 1942
- Siegfried Fornaçon: The Elbinger Sea Steamers , in: Elbinger Hefte 36; Bremerhaven, Münster / Westf. 1979
- Georg Gröning: I come from Danzig - a story told from memories of 1945 ; Self-published
- Mira Hopfengärtner: After year and day - chats , a reencounter with a piece of Sylt island history; Schleswig 1982
- Heinz Kebesch: A steamboat trip from Tilsit to Schwarzort - impressions and observations , in: 16. Tilsiter Rundbrief; Kiel 1986/87
- Ingolf Koehler: The story of a Memel steamer , in: 6. Tilsiter Rundbrief; Kiel 1976/77
- Ingolf Koehler: A paddle steamer on the Kiel Fjord - memories of the steamer "Grenzland" are awakened , in: 31st Tilsiter Rundbrief; Kiel 2001/2002
- Ingolf Koehler: The history of the paddle steamer Grenzland , in: 38th Tilsiter Rundbrief; Kiel 2008/2009
- Alfred Oehmig: Steamers on East German rivers in old views ; Moers 1982/83
- Alfred Pipien: First steamboat trip , in: 28th Tilsiter Rundbrief; Kiel 1998/99
- LÜBECK police office: files pertaining to the steamers “Adam” and “Eva” of the Travemünde line ; Lübeck 1928–1932
- Heinz Schön: Escape across the Baltic Sea in 1944/1945 in the picture ; Stuttgart 1990
- Elisabeth Stroppel: memories ; Manuscript (unpublished)
- NN: The "Freya": A steamer returns , in: Lübecker Nachrichten (LN) of July 22, 2001
Web links
Footnotes
- ↑ LÜBECK Local Court; SSR No. 628 or BSR No. 718
- ↑ LÜBECK police office: files concerning the steamers "Adam" and "Eva" of the Travemünde line.
- ↑ KTB of the Naval War Command (KM RM7, Vol. II, "The End of the War")
- ↑ Georg Gröning: I come from Danzig - Narrated story from memories of 1945; Pages 62–105
- ↑ EMDEN District Court; BSR No. 430 or 947.
- ^ Lübecker Nachrichten (LN) of July 22, 2001