Hamburg Admiralty
The Hamburg Admiralty - the Hamburg Admiralty College - was Hamburg's most important port authority from 1623 to 1811.
Hamburg Admiralty
The Hamburg Admiralty College, or Admiralty for short, was founded in 1623 on the initiative of Hamburg merchants with the aim of protecting Hamburg merchant ships from pirate attacks , especially in the Atlantic, with their own armed ships . Attempts to create such an organization had already been made in the 16th century, but these bodies usually did not last long.
The Hamburg Admiralty originally consisted of a councilor, some merchants and a captain . Initially, her work was financed by her own customs duty on goods that were transported across Hamburg's urban area. In the beginning, the Admiralty actually bought and equipped its own armed ships, but these did not succeed in the fight against the pirates. From then on, the Admiralty was in charge of the arsenal . The Admiralty administered the public slave fund it founded in 1624 . The Hamburg seamen who were kidnapped by pirates were supposed to be ransomed with their means. Since the Hamburg merchants were not satisfied with the activities of the Admiralty, they founded their own committee in 1662 with the " Convoy - Deputation " (from which the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce later emerged), which has since been successfully protecting Hamburg's merchant shipping .
The Admiralty was gradually given other tasks: It was the highest police authority in the port , the college was responsible for piloting on the Lower Elbe and it was responsible for the beacons on Neuwerk and the navigation signs on the Elbe. In addition, as the Hamburg Admiralty Court , the college had been the highest judicial authority since 1623 in disputes in the port , relating to shipping and sea trade . Thus the Admiralty was also responsible for the insurance system and the dispatcher . When dispatchers who ordered the Council has since 1639 disaster experts referred.
The Admiralty leased water properties to shipbuilders. The Admiralty Shipyard Hamburg , which operates on its own account , built two convoy ships from 1668 to 1669, including the first Wapen of Hamburg .
In addition, the Admiralty was responsible for appointing consuls and agents working abroad for Hamburg .
In 1754, the training of boatmen was regulated and regulated by the establishment of a navigation school.
During the French period in Hamburg in 1811, the Admiralty was dissolved and not re-established. Their tasks were transferred to the commercial court and the newly established shipping and port deputation. The name lives on in the Admiralitätsstrasse, so named in 1775, in Hamburg's Neustadt district , where the naval arsenal , built in 1707, was located.
Hamburg port authorities are still flying the admiralty flag , a Hamburg flag with a blue anchor with a yellow cross stick under the castle gate. It is also used as the service flag on the water: Fire boats and the boats of the water police carry them as jacks , formerly made of sheet metal, today made of hard plastic.
Wasserschout
The Wasserschout was also subordinate to the college . The office of the Wasserschout existed in Hamburg from 1691 to 1873; its task was to mediate wage disputes between ship crews and captains. For this he created any ship Hamburg reached or left a list (muster), in which the names of the decommissioned and abgemusterten seafarers and their Heuer - mentioned in the muster rolls 'Gage' - were listed. Every change in the crew was noted in the sample roll during the voyages and confirmed by the consuls in the port cities. They also contain events during the trip that gave cause for crew members to be replaced. In many cases, for example if a logbook is lost, voyages by Hamburg ships can be traced in great detail.
literature
- Eva Christine Frentz: The Hamburg Admiralty Court (1623-1811) . Verlag Peter Lang, 1985 Frankfurt am Main, ISBN 3-8204-8453-1
- Hamburg State Archives, Wasserschout, Sign. 373-1
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Christina Deggim: Harbor Life in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Times - Maritime Trade and Working Regulations in Hamburg and Copenhagen from the 13th to the 17th Century , Conventverlag Hamburg 2005, ISBN 3-934613-76-4 , p. 164