Gröpeln (ship)

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Groping p1
Ship data
flag GermanyGermany Germany
other ship names

Nordmark

Ship type ferry
home port most recently Bremen
Launch 1939
Whereabouts Canceled in Nicaragua in 2010
Transport capacities
Permitted number of passengers 199
Vehicle capacity 4 cars

The Gröpeln was a ferry on the Lower Weser . It was named after the Bremen district of Gröpelingen ( Bremen dialect Gröpeln ). The ship was given away to Nicaragua in 1982 and was canceled there in 2010 .

history

Nordmark

The ferry was built in 1939 at a shipyard in Wischhafen and was then used as the Nordmark at the Elbe ferry Glückstadt-Wischhafen .

In the early 1950s, ferry traffic across the Weser between Bremen and Lower Saxony on the Vegesack ↔ Lemwerder route increased steadily. For this reason, the Nordmark was chartered by the ferryman Wilhelm Niekamp in October 1953 and converted by Abeking & Rasmussen for the transport of up to four passenger cars: the ship was fitted with loading ramps on both sides and the wheelhouse was moved aft . In January 1954, the Nordmark started regular ferry operations. It was able to transport 199 people and four cars per trip; vehicles weighing more than two tons had to be crossed with the Stedingen ferry . In 1954, both ferries carried almost two million people, around 650,000 bicycles, motorcycles and cars, and around 110,000 trucks and horse-drawn vehicles . In 1957, the Nordmark was replaced by the larger Wesermarsch I with a transport capacity of 25 cars.

Groping

The Gröpeln at the Lankenau pier, 1958
Photographer: unknown (archive inventory of the Geschichtswerkstatt Gröpelingen e.V. )
Date of photo: 1958
(Please note copyrights )

A ferry connection between the village of Lankenau on the left side of the Weser and Gröpelingen had existed since the end of the 18th century. In addition to commuters living on the left side of the Weser, it was mainly used by day-trippers and bathers from Bremen and the west of Bremen: "Restaurant, family pool, boat pier and ferry station have always attracted Bremen residents". From 1900 a steamship was used and from the end of 1929 two motor ships operated which served the jetty at the grain transport facility and other stations on the Gröpelinger side . After the Second World War , the ferry connection was initially closed, opened again in 1946 and taken over by the city of Bremen in 1957.

As a replacement for the Adler , which could only carry 100 people, the Bremen Port Authority acquired the Nordmark , which was no longer required in Lemwerder, in spring 1957 and used it on the ferry connection between Gröpelingen and the sandy beach of Lankenau from June 1957. The new name Gröpeln emerged from suggestions made by the population, which the chief government director Heinrich Maas from the Senator's Department for Ports, Shipping and Transport had called for. During the conversion of the Vegesack ferry (ex- Wesermarsch I ) to a double-ended ferry , the Gröpeln was temporarily used again on the Vegesack ↔ Lemwerder route at the end of 1957.

After the construction of the Neustädter Hafen , which was completed in 1964 and which in addition to several districts of Lankenau also fell victim to the popular excursion restaurant Fährhaus Lankenau , excursion traffic fell sharply. In rush hour traffic, the Gröpeln mainly transported workers from the AG Weser and, in addition to Lankenau, now also served stations in Rablinghausen and Woltmershausen . The Gröpeln stop at Lankenauer Höft experienced a temporary upswing when a newly built excursion restaurant was opened there in 1977. After the Gröpeln had been used in Blumenthal in the meantime , it was decommissioned in 1981.

Whereabouts

As a sign of international solidarity, the Gröpeln was given away to Nicaragua in 1982 by the Bremen port senator Oswald Brinkmann and on behalf of the German Federation of Trade Unions . She was supposed to be used as a supply ship for the Solentiname archipelago in southern Lake Nicaragua , the home of the Sandinista freedom fighter Ernesto Cardenal . The Gröpeln was on of Hapag-Lloyd chartered Egon Oldendorff - general cargo ship Globe Trader loaded and the end of August 1982 at the Reede before Bluefields to a Nicaraguan crew passed. The further route to Lake Nicaragua led over the Río San Juan , which was the fastest connection between the Caribbean and the Pacific before the opening of the Panama Canal . The transfer trip was accompanied by a representative of the Bremen port construction authority and a camera team. The ship ran aground several times because the water level was too low and was shot incapable of maneuvering with bazookas and grenade launchers on May 3, 1983 by mercenary troops of the ex-Sandinista Edén Pastora Gómez . In 1986 the photographer Markus Bibelriether undertook a trip to the banks of the Río San Juan and also took photos of the Gröpeln , which had since been taken further upstream in shallow waters opposite the fortress Castillo de la Inmaculada Concepción . With the help of Medico international , the Bremen authorities and the “Nicaragua Solidarity of the DGB Bremen” , the Gröpeln was completely repaired and given a new coat of paint. In October 1988 she reached San Carlos on the southern Lake Nicaragua with her own engine and served a. a. during a hurricane as an evacuation ship for the local population. The ship was then driven to the El Diamante shipyard near Granada on behalf of the national port authority Empresa Portuaria Nacional in order to have a temporarily repaired underwater damage finally repaired and to carry out a possible conversion. Contrary to this intention, the Gröpeln was sold to the shipyard owner in 2010 and scrapped by him. The background to this were the years of inactivity of the Nicaraguan authorities after the change of government in 1990, property claims from various sides and the fact that two ships from Sweden had now taken over the Gröpeln's original task .

literature

  • Tobias Meyer: Fährweg. From the Weser barge to the cookware . In: Eva-Maria Bast, Tobias Meyer (Hrsg.): Bremen secrets. 50 exciting stories from the Hanseatic city . 3. Edition. Bast Medien, Überlingen 2016, ISBN 978-3-946581-08-6 , p. 75-78 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Second ferry . In: Weser courier . November 7, 1953, ZDB -ID 126012-1 , p. 11 .
  2. ^ F.-Herbert Wenz: Chronicle of the ferries . Stedinger Verlag, Lemwerder 1992, ISBN 3-927697-11-7 , p. 41 .
  3. ↑ At the moment the "Stedingen" is sufficient . "Nordmark" only after Christmas in shuttle service. In: Weser courier . December 19, 1953, ZDB -ID 126012-1 , p. 11 .
  4. ↑ Two million people crossed . Ferry problem on the Weser near Vegesack has not yet been completely resolved. In: Weser courier . January 12, 1955, ZDB -ID 126012-1 , p. 6 .
  5. ↑ Vegesack receives new ferry system . At the height of the extinguishing station - ten-minute traffic is guaranteed. In: Weser courier . January 3, 1957, ZDB -ID 126012-1 , p. 13 .
  6. ↑ Die Gröpeln at the Lankenau investor, 1958. Geschichtswerkstatt Gröpelingen eV , accessed on April 18, 2019 (image not included in article for copyright reasons).
  7. ↑ a b c d "Hal över" - Weser ferries yesterday and today (VIII): Lured with free rides in summer . The Lankenau / Rablinghausen – Gröpelingen ferry brought shipyard workers and coffee makers. In: Weser courier . March 5, 1983, ZDB -ID 126012-1 , p. 17 .
  8. ↑ "Nordmark" has 100 seats more than the "Adler" . In: Weser courier . June 7, 1957, ZDB -ID 126012-1 , p. 7 .
  9. ↑ New ferry is looking for a name . In: Weser courier . April 12, 1957, ZDB -ID 126012-1 , p. 3 .
  10. ↑ "Vegesack" is being rebuilt . In: Weser courier . December 14, 1957, ZDB -ID 126012-1 , p. 28 .
  11. ↑ The hiking trail has new terminus . Instead of the mooring lines, the guests should now come. In: Weser courier . March 16, 1977, ZDB -ID 126012-1 , p. 12 .
  12. ↑ The Weser ferries. Peter Nennstiel, archived from the original on October 2, 2016 ; accessed on December 13, 2016 .
  13. ↑ Markus Bibelriether: Photos of the Gröpeln from 1986. fotocommunity.de , accessed on December 13, 2016 .
  14. ↑ Lucía Vargas C: El Groppel (in the second paragraph). La Prensa, March 22, 2011, accessed December 13, 2016 (Spanish).