The Glückauf was an oil tanker owned by the Wilhelm Anton Riedemann shipping company in Geestemünde , which was put into operation in 1886. Together with the Petrolea , which was built at the same time , it is the world's first sea-going oil tanker of a modern design.
After the forwarding company Wilhelm Anton Riedemann had his sailing ship Andromeda converted into an oil tanker at the Joh. C. Tecklenborg shipyard in Geestemünde , he couldn't find a shipyard in Germany that was ready to build an oil tanker with a steam engine as a new build according to his plans. The first shipyard to do so was Armstrong & Mitchell in Low Walker, Newcastle on Tyne , UK . This was built by Glückauf in 1886 under construction number 473 for Riedemann's forwarding company. After being on strike by dock workers on their first trip to New York, who saw their jobs at risk, the Glückauf became a great success for its owner. The subsequent numerous new buildings based on the Glückauf principle ensured that the price for petroleum in Europe fell by half within a short time.
The End
Stranded wreck of the Glückauf
On March 4, 1893, the Glückauf embarked on a ballast trip from Swinoujscie to New York. The ship sailed under the command of Captain Borger, who made his first voyage as a captain. On the 22nd of the month one of the steam boilers leaked, whereupon its steam output was reduced, and on March 23rd the ship took its pilot on board for the final passage on the North American east coast. When he came on board, he confirmed the ship's location calculated by the ship's command, but did not yet begin his consultation. On March 24th at around 3 a.m. the captain ordered the helmsman Kuhlemann to start the sounding when the Glückauf stranded in the thick fog on Blue Point Beach, Fire Island , New York during high tide . The ship that ran aground was drifting further and further onto the beach in the strong surf and could not be made afloat either with its own measures or with the help of a tug. Since the crew was in danger of death, the Glückauf was finally given up and completely lost.
The Maritime Office met on May 27th and June 3rd, 1893 and in its ruling complained that the voyage had not been reduced enough with the rising fog and that the sounding had started too late.
literature
Rainer Karlsch, Raymond G. Stokes: Factor oil: the mineral oil industry in Germany 1859-1974. Verlag CH Beck, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-406-50276-8 .
^ Jochen Brennecke: Seafaring and Lexica . In: Ship and Time . Vol. 1, No.1 , 1973, p.19-21 .
^ Friedrich Spengemann: The ships of the Hanoverian Weser fleet. Verlag Egon Heinemann, Norderstedt 1975, p. 128. (Reprint of the original edition from 1936)
