Governor v. Puttkamer
 The Wajao ex governor v. Puttkamer
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The governor v. Puttkamer of the Woermann Line (WL) was the largest ship in the line's coastal steamer fleet on the West African coast. Five of the ten coastal steamers of the WL were sunk as block ships in the port of Duala in 1914 . The governor v. Puttkamer escaped from Duala to the neutral Spanish island of Fernando Póo off Duala. In 1920 the German shipping company got its ship back and used it again as Wajao on the West African coast from 1921 to 1932 .
Sold to Mauritius in June 1932, the Wajao was already lost on November 7, 1933 due to stranding near the Agalega Islands .
History of the governor v. Puttkamer
The ship with hull number 466 was commissioned in 1902 together with the freighter Marina for the West African coastal service. The governor v. Puttkamer was launched at Bremer Vulkan on September 18, 1903 and was delivered on October 31, 1903. It was named after the incumbent governor of the German protected area of Cameroon , Jesko von Puttkamer . The two-masted ship was 65.2 m long, had a triple expansion engine of 550 hp, the steam was generated with a cylinder boiler and had a service speed of 9 knots. As the first of the West African coastal ships, it was able to accommodate 38 passengers in three classes in a relatively large, central deckhouse. It was the only one of the German coastal ships to also transport passengers between the West African ports.
The governor v. When the war broke out in 1914, Puttkamer was in Duala, where the Woermann steamers Erna Woermann (5528 BRT, 1902), Max Brock (4579 BRT, 1907), Eleonore Woermann (4624 BRT, 1902, 12.5 kn), Hans Woermann (4059 BRT, 1901), Renata Amsinck (3824 BRT, 1912), Aline Woermann (3133 BRT, 1910), Henriette Woermann (2426 BRT, 1903), Anna Woermann (2335 BRT, 1893), Jeanette Woermann (2286 BRT, 1893), Paul Woermann (2238 BRT, 1898), the West Africa ships Cameroon (5861 BRT, 1914), Lome (2583 BRT, 1888) of Hapag and the Arnfried (2899 BRT, 1911) of HBAL as well as eleven of the small coastal freighters had sought refuge. Like parts of the colonial administration, Woermann-Linie and DOAL had the hope that the Congo Acts could make the German colonies a safe haven.
The war events
So it came about that only Eleonore Woermann of the thirteen seagoing ships in the main port of the colony with a maximum load of coal using the passenger compartments left Duala on August 7th to support German warships on the other side of the Atlantic off the South American coast. On August 9th the security of the port of the colony began with the sinking of the Anna Woermann as a block ship. The marina was the first coastal steamer to leave Duala in mid-August to seek protection elsewhere. It was discovered and captured off Accra . The security of Duala was improved by the sinking of further block ships and with the Lome and the coastal steamers Ado (2) and Ondo , Eggo and Ereko , Oyo and Epe , further block ships were sunk by mid-September. The governor v. Puttkamer and the Itolo left Duala. While the Itolo was sunk by the French gunboat Surprise off Ukoko , the governor v. Puttkamer escaped from Duala to the offshore Spanish island of Fernando Póo, today Bioko, where Hapag's coastal freighter Idumata has been lying since the beginning of the war .
When the British and French on September 27 with the armored cruiser Cumberland , the cruiser Challenger and other light units and auxiliary ships Duala attacked , the coastal steamer was Kuka with 600 tons of coal have sunk and the Cameroon Hapag, the largest and most modern ship in the harbor, set on the ground. In addition to a large number of small auxiliary ships and a small floating dock , the Entente powers captured nine undamaged cargo ships between 2238 and 5528 GRT and the coastal freighters Haussa and Fullah . The two larger block ships and the aground Cameroon were lifted and all twelve ships were deployed under the British flag. Between 1915 and 1918, nine ships were lost, six of them to German submarines.
Of the three ships that survived the war, the oldest, the Lome , was sold to Turkey in 1923 and had an accident in 1943. The Erna Woermann was bought back in 1921 by the DOAL and as Sultan used. In 1925 the Woermann-Linie also bought back the former Max Brock , which then went back to its old line as Waregga . Both ships were scrapped in 1932 and then scrapped.
The coastal steamers Haussa and Fullah captured in Duala came into service in 1920 for the French colonial administration and remained in service until 1930 and 1950 respectively.
In 1919 the French forced the Spanish authorities to surrender the two German coastal ships Gouverneur v. Puttkamer and Idumata , although because of their small size they were not among the ships to be delivered.
Use as Wajao
In 1920 the French authorities gave Governor v. Puttkamer back to the Woermann line. The ship was renamed Wajao on January 28, 1921 and was now used in coastal traffic with the Cape Town base .
On June 30, 1932, the Wajao was sold to the shipping company Rogers & Co. in Port Louis , Mauritius . The ship, which was used in island service as Wajao , ran aground on November 7, 1933 in a severe storm near Agalega . The wreck is still on the beach today ( 10 ° 27 ′ 13 ″ S , 56 ° 40 ′ 57 ″ E, ).
Individual evidence
- ^ Kludas: passenger shipping . Volume III, p. 143.
- ^ Herbert: War voyages of German merchant ships. P. 105ff.
- ↑ Kludas: Ships of the Africa Lines. Pp. 32, 34, 63.
- ↑ Kludas: Ships of the Africa Lines. Pp. 30, 36, 45, 61, 80, 124.
- ↑ Kludas: Ships of the Africa Lines. P. 30.
- ↑ Kludas: Ships of the Africa Lines. P. 61.
Web links
- Page on the history of the shipping companies Deutsche Afrika-Linien, John T. Essberger, u. a. as well as the trading house C. Woermann under construction
- Wreck of the Wajao
- PROCEEDINGS OF HMS CUMBERLAND AND THE OPERATIONS IN THE CAMEROONS p. 505 ff.
literature
- Carl Herbert: War voyages of German merchant ships . Broschek & Co, Hamburg 1934.
- Arnold Kludas : The ships of the German Africa Lines 1880 to 1945 . Verlag Gerhard Stalling, 1975, ISBN 3-7979-1867-4 .
- Arnold Kludas: The History of German Passenger Shipping. Volume III: Rapid growth from 1900 to 1914 (= writings of the German Maritime Museum. Volume 20). Kabel, Hamburg 1988, ISBN 3-8225-0039-9 .
- Reinhart Schmelzkopf: The German Merchant Shipping 1919–1939. Verlag Gerhard Stalling, Oldenburg 1974, ISBN 3-7979-1847-X .