Friedrich Barth (model maker)

Friedrich Barth (born February 1, 1867 in Emden , † December 17, 1947 in Aurich ) was a German ship model builder.

Live and act

Friedrich Barth was the son of a businessman. He had a brother named Theodor who was two years his junior and a sister named Agnes who was five years his junior, with whom he spent childhood and youth in his native town. The ancestors of the Greetsiel and Ankum family had gone to sea, which Barth himself was denied because of his short stature.

Barth graduated from high school in Emden and trained as a watchmaker. He completed a mechanical engineering degree in Lingen with an excellent degree. Then he taught there as a teacher. Later he practically learned in Wuppertal, Saarbrücken and Stettin and went back to Emden. Together with his brother he founded the "Emden iron foundry & machine factory of the Barth brothers". The company offered metal castings of all alloys. They also took on blacksmith and locksmith work and iron constructions. They also repaired floating ships.

The Barth brothers initially ran a growing company. In 1898 they had 13 employees. Due to too strong competition from the Hohenzollernhütte, their business went bankrupt at the beginning of the 20th century. Barth then dealt with the model building of ships. To do this, he procured specialist literature and looked at sea images in marine museums. After a short time he was regarded as a sure expert in historical shipbuilding.

Barth always worked according to his own drafts, sketches and cracks . He carried out this in frame construction or with wooden blocks. He built deck structures, stained and stained the wood dark and also made sails and the rigging. In the following decades he created around 500 historically accurate ship models with a hull length of sometimes up to 2.50 meters. Most of them were ships from the 15th to 17th centuries, i.e. cogs, East Frisian East Indiamans, flagships equipped with 50 guns, North Frisian Vloyt ships, East Frisian whalers, fishing vessels, East Frisian peat moths, convoy ships, square sailors, magnificent yachts, caravans, briggs, brigands Pinships and schooners.

Barth only built ships that actually existed. He created each of his models only once. His works went to museums in London, Vienna, Hanover, New York, Munich, Hamburg and numerous other cities. Barth probably marked all of his works with the notched initials "FB". This was followed by a number, the "115" being very common. He put the signature and numbers on the port side in the aft, next to the lower end of the rudder above the deadwood. The deadwood is a continuous strip of wood that can be found under every ship model. All documents and his workshop were lost during the air raids on Emden in 1944.

Barth was particularly interested in East Frisia and published on the region. He belonged to the Society for Fine Arts and Patriotic Antiquities of Emden , became its honorary member and gave lectures there. He was also a member of the Natural Research Society in Emden .

Barth was married to his cousin Helene Symens (born July 14, 1866) since 1895, who died in 1941.

literature

• Ursula Basse-Soltau: Barth, Friedrich . in: Martin Tielke (Hrsg.): Biographisches Lexikon für Ostfriesland. Ostfriesische Landschaftliche Verlags- und Vertriebsgesellschaft, Aurich, Vol. 3 ISBN 3-932206-22-3 (2001), pages 30–32.