Germania (ship, 1904)
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The Germania of the Jaluit Society was built in 1904 by Friedrich Krupp AG at the Germania shipyard in Kiel for passenger, freight and postal services between the islands in the German protected areas in the South Seas . On December 9, 1904, she began service on the Hong Kong post line via Jaluit to Sydney .
In 1914, the ship under repair in Australia was confiscated and used by two Australian shipping companies from 1915 to 1927. In 1928 the ship was sold to New Caledonia and in 1937 to Hong Kong. In 1941 Japan confiscated the ship, in whose service it was lost in World War II.
history
On January 21, 1888, the Jaluit Society for the German Empire took over the administration of the Marshall Islands , the Gilbert Islands and the Carolines . A ship connection from Sydney to Hong Kong was planned since 1899, which should be financially supported by the German Reich. In order to improve traffic between the islands, the German Empire signed a contract with the company in 1899, which entrusted them with the transport of mail from Sydney via Jaluit to Yap . There the mail should then be delivered to the Reichspostdampfer of the NDL , which ran on the route Hong Kong - Saipan - Yap - Ponape - Sydney and back. The NDL tried since July 1900 to organize this traffic. The Munich (1889 Fairfields, 4803 GRT) used by the NDL stranded on its third voyage on February 3, 1901 in front of Yap and was sold in a wreck. The NDL then temporarily gave up its service.
The Jaluit Society was to begin its government-supported service in 1901 and promised departures every twelve weeks, with a purchased steamer from Sydney Jaluit, Kusaie , Ponape, Truk , Yap and Palau to call and return to Sydney. For this service, the company had bought the screw steamer Harold of 684 GRT, built in 1891 , which was to be converted for use in the tropics as Oceana . When the North German Lloyd ceased its service, the Jaluit company offered to extend its service to Hong Kong for 1902. The German administration requested a stop at the main administrative location Herbertshöhe on New Britain, at that time Neupommern and, if necessary, the call to Matupi . The extended line should expire every two months. On December 29, 1903, this service had to be stopped because the Oceana ran aground in the Jaluit Atoll. After an emergency repair on site, she was able to run to Sydney, where repairing the ship was not considered economically viable. The Jaluit company decided to replace the Oceana with a new building.
In service between Hong Kong and Australia
The Germania shipyard of Friedrich Krupp AG in Kiel completed the Germania of 1096 GRT for the Jaluit company in 1904 . The 64 m long ship had ten double cabins for first class passengers on the bridge deck, a dining room in the front and a smoking room aft. In addition, it offered space for twelve second class passengers and 50 passengers on deck. A special booth was set up as a post office for mail traffic. The ship had three large lifeboats and a gig. It was propelled by a triple expansion engine of 1580 hp, which enabled a cruising speed of 11.25 knots.
The Germania started her sea trials on 12 September 1904 and left at the end of the month Germany to begin her first trip from Hong Kong to Sydney on 9 December 1904th Her maiden voyage ended in Sydney on January 24, 1905. On the way she had called at Yap, Saipan, Truk, Ponape, Kusaie, Jaluit, the two British Isles of Butaritari and Ocean Island and then Nauru . She left some of the starting points on the same day, only staying in Jaluit for four days. The longest lake stages were the first and the last with nine or ten days at sea. The stages between the islands approached were only one to three days long. Calling at Herbertshöhe was no longer necessary, as the NDL had been operating a Reichspostdampferzweig between Hong Kong and Sydney (Austral-Japan line) with the small Prinzendampfer since October 19, 1904 .
The Germania occurred on February 9, her first trip with the same ports of call and was on March 29, 1905 back to Hong Kong. On its second return trip to Hong Kong, Germania in Jaluit was caught in a typhoon for the first time on June 30, 1905 . The settlement on Jaluit was largely destroyed. The Germania put in time on the pier and survived the storm in the middle of the lagoon in front of both anchors and with full force against the storm constantly. The jetty was totally destroyed. The Germania brought the news of the devastation to Yap, where the Imperial Navy in telegraph Tsingtao was notified that the old cruiser SMS eagles sent for Jaluit.
The Germania managed about three round trips a year. In addition to the postal service between the islands called, it transported the products of the Jaluit company to the endpoints of its line for possible onward transport to Germany, but it also took on freight from the other German companies. From 1906 it was in competition with the so-called island service of the NDL, which with the old Sumatra also called the islands of the German protected area from Rabaul .
The route was slightly changed until 1914. So from 1906 Tarawa was called between Butaritari and Ocean Island. In 1911, however, the three British Isles were removed from the timetable. From 1907 Germania ran from Hong Kong first to Palau and then to Yap and from 1911 from there via Woleai to Saipan. After Rabaul was included in the timetable on the last round trip in 1909 and the first two trips in 1910, the last stops before Australia and the first on the return journey were on the trips from 1911 onwards to Nauru and Rabaul.
Her 57th trip (the 29th from Hong Kong to Australia) was her last under the German flag. After several journeys on which typhoons had been survived en route, this time the journey in the Caroline Islands went through the eye of a typhoon. All lifeboats were destroyed and the Germania was severely damaged when she arrived in Sydney on July 30, 1914. Before the necessary repairs could be carried out, the First World War broke out. There were attacks against the crew and the ship. The Australian government confiscated the ship on August 4, 1914, interned the crew and canceled the repairs.
Under foreign flags
The Australian government awarded the Germania in February 1915 to the Jaluit company's main competitor, the Australian company Burns, Philp & Co. , which used the ship in island service. The Germania was founded in October 1915 Mawatta renamed. Mostly she was deployed between Sydney and Rabaul, but she also ran to stations for the company in New Guinea, Nauru, Ocean Island, Kiribati and Tuvalu . It is said to have been deployed to the Marshall Islands, which have since been occupied by the Japanese.
After 1918, the ship was overhauled as it had again suffered considerable damage from severe storms. Last used in June 1920, the Mawatta was returned to the government on July 27, 1920 by Burns, Philp & Co.
This chartered the ship to James R. Patrick, whose company "Patrick Steamship Ltd" bought the ship in 1924. The operating company, which has been renamed several times, used the Mawatta in coastal service and in 1926 had the ship completely overhauled in the Cockatoo Island Dockyards in Sydney and a new central ship installed.
In July 1928 the Mawatta was sold to Noumea to the “Société de Tour des Côtes”, which needed a replacement ship for its service between the islands in the French colonial area. The ship kept coming to Sydney for overhauls.
In 1937 the old ship, which had become too expensive in terms of maintenance, was sold to the company "Mollers Towages" in Shanghai, which converted it into a salvage ship and used it under the British flag as Elsie Moller .
The End as Esashi Maru
In 1941 the ship was captured by the Japanese Navy on the way from Shanghai to Hong Kong and continued to be used as Esashi Maru . On March 29, 1945 the ship was sunk. It was lifted again, but then finally scrapped.
Web links
- Mawatta's curriculum vitae
- Dirk HR Spennemann: The German Postal Steamer Germania (1904-1945)
- Timetable of the Jaluit Gesellschaft Postal Steamer Germania for 1904 to 1908
- Passage costs on the German mail steamer Oceana in 1903
- TIME TABLE & BRIEF HISTORY OF SERVICE OF THE JALUIT GESELLSCHAFT MAIL STEAMER GERMANIA 1904–1914: A Contribution to theCommunications History of Micronesia (PDF; 730 kB)