Gustaf Erikson

Four-masted barque Pomerania in Mariehamn 2005

Gustaf Erikson (born October 24, 1872 in Hellestorp, Lemland , on the Finnish island of Fasta Åland ; † August 15, 1947 in Mariehamn ; actually Gustaf Adolf Mauritz Eriksson ) was a Finnish shipowner and the last major shipowner whose fleet consisted only of sailing ships. Erikson's ships have won the Wheat Regatta more than ten times .

Life

Gustaf Adolf Mauritz Eriksson was born as the son of the captain and ship owner Gustav Adolf Eriksson and his wife Amalia at the Hansa-Hof in Hellestorp, Lemland municipality. At the age of 10 he was hired as a cabin boy and kitchen helper on the Barkentine Adele , in 1885 and 1886 as a cook on the Bark Neptun . In 1887 he became a seaman on the Adele , in 1888 an able seaman and in 1889 a steward on the barque Ansagar . In 1890 he went on board the Barkentine Fennia as a boatswain and a year later as 2nd mate on the Bark Southern Belle . He received his second mate patent at the seaman's school in Mariehamn in the spring of 1892. In 1893 and 1894 he ran the barquentine Adele without a captain's license and, after further training at the navigation school in Oulu, obtained the patent for the first officer . Erikson went on to sea as 1st officer on the barque Matilda and as 3rd officer on the barges Mariehamn and Finland . There he fell out of the rigging during a maneuver and broke his thigh, which resulted in a lifelong handicap. In 1900 Gustaf Erikson received his captain's license for a long voyage and then ran the Bark Southern Belle until 1905. In 1906 he changed his surname to Erikson and married Hilda Bergman from Finström , Fasta Åland , 10 km north of Mariehamn, who gave birth to four children. Edgar, Greta, Gustaf-Adolf and Eva. Erikson led the full ship Albania from 1906 to 1908 and the Bark Lochee from 1909 to 1913 , his last command. After that, he went ashore forever and decided to become a ship owner. He acquired shares in the Dutch-built wooden barque Tjerimai , which turned out to be one of his most profitable ships until it sank in the North Sea in 1925. In 1913 he also acquired shares in the four-masted barque Renée Rickmers, built in Bremerhaven . Erikson had the ship renamed in Åland . After the Åland ran aground off Wellington , New Zealand in 1914 and had to be abandoned, Erikson had none of his ships renamed, except in their first name.

During the First World War , two of Erikson's ships sank after being torpedoed by German submarines , but he also bought new units, such as the Lawhill owned by shipowner August Troberg, also from Mariehamn, which, however, was confiscated by France in Brest in 1919 after continuous protests Eriksons was returned to him, with cash payment for the failure. The barque with the rare rig was to become the financial basis for Gustaf Erikson's later large-scale sailing company, as it made a fortune for him. After the end of the war, the great days of sailing ships seemed to be over, most shipowners now rely on steamships. Erikson, however, continued to hold on to tall ships. In the twenties and thirties he acquired a number of them, including the four-masted barque Pommern (1923 as reparation payment from Germany to Greece) from the fleet of the world-famous Flying P-Liner of the Hamburg shipping company F. Laeisz , and in the same year the barque Penang ex Albert Rickmers II (from the shipping company John Nurminen, Rauma ), in 1929 the four-masted barque Ponape (formerly Bellhouse , Ponape and Regina Elena from the Åland shipping company Hugo Lundquist) and in the 1930s the Pamir (1931) and the Passat (1932) directly from F. Laeisz. The Duchess Cecilie , the fastest tall ship of its time, also came to Erikson in 1921 via France (reparation payment) and became his flagship. He acquired other large units with the four-masted barques Archibald Russell (1923) and Hougomont (1925). The L'Avenir bought Erikson in 1932, but they came in 1937 again. The ship disappeared as Admiral Karpfanger after March 12, 1938 (last known position south of New Zealand at 51 ° S and 172 ° E) in the Cape Horn region with 27 sailors and 33 cadets. As a tall ship, Gustaf Erikson bought the four-masted barque Moshulu (ex Dreadnought ex Kurt ) from the USA in 1935 , which is now moored in the port of Philadelphia as a restaurant ship, and the auxiliary three-masted schooner Sirius ex Bjerkvik ex Marten (1901), his last sailor purchase in the Year 1942.

In the thirties Erikson lost the Duchess Cecilie (1936) and the Hougomont (1932) due to stranding or delimbing, the Ponape was sold to Latvia. During the Second World War, more tall ships were lost: the four-masted barque Olivebank ran into a mine and sank, the Moshulu captured the Germans during the occupation of Norway. The Pamir was confiscated by the New Zealand government, the Archibald Russell by the British and the Lawhill by the South African government. The Penang (1,997 GRT) was sunk by U 140 on December 8, 1940, coming from Port Victoria, and the Bark Killoran (1,815 GRT) was sunk by the auxiliary cruiser Widder on August 10, 1940 .

After the war, Erikson was left with only three tall ships, the Pomeranian , the Viking and the Passat . The Pomerania was too badly damaged and had to be repaired, for which Erikson lacked the financial means, so that only the Viking (today a museum ship in Gothenburg ) and the Passat (today at the Priwall in Travemünde ) continued to sail under Erikson's flag. In 1953, his children Edgar and Eva gave the Pomerania as a gift to the city of Mariehamn, where the unchanged four-masted barque (with original interior fittings) can still be viewed as a museum ship.

While Erikson was trying to get the Pamir , Lawhill and Archibald Russell back, he died in 1947. His son Edgar Erikson and his wife Solveig were given back all ships except the Lawhill in 1948 . Gustaf Erikson was a partner in several steamers. His son Edgar soon sold the tall ships and bought more steamships and motor ships. Later, RoRo ships , STORO ships and reefers added. Edgar Erikson died in 1986. After restructuring the company structure, today's "Rederiaktiebolag (et) Gustaf Erikson (Finland)" - 4B Norra Esplanadgatan, FIN-22101 Mariehamn, "(Die) Reedereiaktiengesellschaft Gustaf Erikson (Finland)" - owns around 20 modern refrigerated vessels and six StoRo ships for dry cargo. The company is managed by Gustaf Erikson's granddaughter and Edgar and Solveig Erikson's daughter, Mrs. Gun Erikson-Hjerling.

Web links

Commons : Gustaf Erikson - collection of images, videos and audio files

personal data
SURNAME	Erikson, Gustaf
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Eriksson, Gustaf Adolf Mauritz; Erikson, Gustaf Adolf Mauritz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Finnish major shipping company
DATE OF BIRTH	October 24, 1872
PLACE OF BIRTH	Lemland
DATE OF DEATH	August 15, 1947
Place of death	Mariehamn

Gustaf Erikson

Life

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