Convoy shipping

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The convoy shipping was a form of navigation for protection against attacks on merchant shipping and tried by the exposure to so-called individual drivers to reduce ships are traveling separately. They could be organized by the merchants themselves, but they could also be offered by the state. From this organization or the need for it, the journey in an admiralty and in Germany the admiralty of Hamburg, Bremen and Brandenburg developed. The armament was mainly provided by the merchants themselves and could also be hired from the state.

Joachim Luhn: City view of Hamburg from 1681. On the left edge of the picture a private convoy of the Free and Imperial City of Hamburg

Concept and environment

A general definition of the term Konvoischifffahrt or Konvoischiff or convoyer (also known as convoy ) is not possible. Depending on the era and area, there were different demands on a convoy . It was sufficient that the biggest ship consisting of merchant ships convoys as Konvoier was chosen. It was possible that the ship of the captain who was appointed admiral became a convoy , or that the city or government determined which ship becomes the convoy . In addition, the designation can be temporary, one-time or permanent. The definition is made more difficult by the fact that there are no scientific studies on the overall aspect of convoy shipping. Instead, a large number of individual aspects have been dealt with, from different perspectives. Mostly the military meanings of the modern age are dealt with, less often the effects of the organization of convoy shipping on state or urban structures of earlier times.

If you look at all the elements of convoy shipping, you could describe them as a cooperative organization of merchant ships against hazards on the common journey to a common destination.

A Prussian lieutenant general and military writer describes the ships, which were called "convoyers" in the parlance at the time, in his naval military dictionary published in 1774 as follows:

“Convoyer: This is how the warships that accompany the merchants are called. Even in peacetime it is customary to give merchants who go on long journeys or fishing together. which cover them and protect them from pirates or even the enemy. Sometimes they are primarily assigned only to the maintenance and prevention of teasing from others. The warship, which has this mission, commands the merchants, arranges their march, compels them to help one another, receives daily reports from them, collects news of the state of the sea and the land. It scares away the weak and, if they have to deal with the bigger ones, creates the opportunity for the covered to get to the next safe place. If it is with these coverings, as with those on land, that the attacked seldom gets away without disadvantage, there is one reason for it. "

- Georg Dietrich von der Groeben

In the middle of the 19th century the term convoy was defined even more broadly. This was understood to mean:

  1. an escort for honor or protection (especially convoyer for an armed escort, especially a mail van );
  2. a secure transport of food or war material ;
  3. a merchant fleet with the purchase vehicles accompanying it (or the purchase vehicles alone);
  4. in the case of railways, every connected wagon train .

development

middle Ages

Dutch fishing fleet with convoy ships; around 1700, Pieter de Vogelaer (1641-ca. 1725)

It is uncertain to what extent it is possible to speak of a convoy when traders make common trips that have become known. What is certain, however, is that even the Hanseatic cities used various forms of trade protection. In addition to protecting the ships directly, it also includes protecting entire sea areas from enemy attacks. For the journey in the convoy, mercenaries or city servants were hired from the respective city and sent to selected vehicles. There were also regulations to keep the required weapons and personnel on board in relation to the size of the ship. The size of the crews of the medieval trading vehicles is usually greater than the nautical needs. Therefore it is assumed that some are scheduled as armed personnel. In the course of the wars in the North Sea and Baltic Sea region, everyone involved in trade developed their own forms of trade protection. In the Netherlands , cities have shared half the cost of equipping Vreedscipen (" peace ships ").

After the Spanish conquest of the New World, the huge booty often only reached Europe in individual ships. This led to the desires of European pirates. In addition, the weather conditions in the Caribbean forced seasonal shipping to Europe. This led to the convoys of Spanish galleons in order to reduce the losses for the Spanish crown. This also had the effect that the cargo, the ships and crews could be better controlled by royal employees.

But warships were not only equipped to protect merchant ships. Protection was also necessary for the fishing fleets. The Dutch fishery in particular, which often nets off the coast of England, was prone to any surprise attack. The Flemish coast was also a popular fishing spot for fishermen and pirates. Therefore the admiralty of the Netherlands regularly had to provide warships for the direct protection of the fishing fleets. These were small to medium-sized warships and were specially built and equipped for this service.

Early modern times using the example of the Free Imperial Cities of Hamburg and Bremen

Free Imperial City of Hamburg

Large coat of arms of Hamburg
French ship in battle with the galleys of the barbaresque corsairs, painting by Aert Anthonisz (1579–1620). Raids on merchant ships were a common problem at the time

After the power fall of the Hanseatic League in the 16th century, Hamburg gained increasing economic importance. Through immigration and the associated gain in trading partners, the Free Imperial City of Hamburg grew in the middle of the 17th century, alongside London and Amsterdam, into one of the most important urban trading centers, whose trade relations stretched from Greenland to the Mediterranean and White Seas . The most important points of contact were the Iberian Peninsula , England , the Arctic Ocean (with reference to whaling) and Arkhangelsk . As a rule, the trade was based on reciprocity, so that foreign traders also had access to the Hamburg market. The expansion of the trade as well as the violent expansion of the sphere of influence of Christianity, especially in the Mediterranean area, inevitably led to confrontations. Although the Christian seafaring won the battle of Lepanto in 1571 , it was still faced with loss-making attacks by Muslim corsairs .

These operated with their ships from the barbarian states and hit the heavy and often almost defenseless merchant convoys, usually consisting of 20 to 50 merchant ships . Even equipping merchant ships with cannons (so-called armed merchant ships) could not do much to change this, since the merchants remained clumsy due to the cargo. The ships were taken as prizes , the cargoes confiscated, and the ship's crews were often enslaved or imprisoned under the worst conditions until a ransom was paid.

In order to buy back their captains and helmsmen who had been captured, skippers and helmsmen in Hamburg set up the "Casse of the Pieces of Eighth", a ransom insurance that served as the basis for ransom payments. So that those who could not afford contributions to this insurance could also be bought back, the slave fund was founded in Hamburg in 1623 , which consisted of compulsory contributions from shipowners and crews as well as grants from government organizations and the admiralty tax. Since the funds were insufficient, collecting basins were also set up in the churches and house collections were organized.

In the course of the 17th century, the corsairs even extended their radius of operation from the Mediterranean via Gibraltar and the English Channel to the mouth of the Elbe . England, France and the Netherlands tried from 1665 to 1687 to counter the raids with punitive expeditions - such actions were not possible because Hamburg did not initially have its own warships. As a result of the expansion of the area of ​​operations of the corsairs, the supply of Hamburg by sea sometimes came to a standstill, so that at times there were even goods bottlenecks in the city.

In addition, Christian warring countries increasingly became an economic problem for Hamburg. → see the main articles:

For example, France sent more privateers from Dunkirk to intercept the Hamburg and Dutch Greenlanders who transported goods from whale and seal fishing and processed them in Hamburg.

Spanish warship in action with barbarian corsairs, painting by Cornelis Vroom, 1615

Other affected parties such as the states of the Netherlands , England , France , Norway and Denmark , but also the Hanseatic city of Bremen and Brandenburg-Prussia had to struggle with piracy problems on their trade routes and, as a countermeasure, granted their traders escort by accompanying the merchant convoys with warships .

Hamburg's rulers wanted to secure their important position in international trade as sustainably as possible and decided to also protect their merchant convoys and to organize an escort by the so-called convoy ships ("convoyer") in order to ward off such attacks in the future.

Since Hamburg always tried in the 17th and 18th centuries to keep itself and its inhabitants out of armed conflicts that were harmful to trade and to take a position as neutral as possible towards conflicting parties, the term "warship" was expressly avoided. Instead, the designation "Konvoischiff" or "Stadtkonvoischiff" was officially used, which was supposed to designate a more passive type of ship designed for defense than attack. In fact, however, these ships can be called warships , as they were primarily designed to carry weapons.

The Hamburg convoy ships were warships with permanent escort orders, which protected the Hamburg convoy shipping from 1669 to 1747 and secured trade to and from Hamburg and thus strengthened Hamburg's position as a trading metropolis.

Influenced by various factors, Hamburg stopped accompanying the convoy with its own ships towards the middle of the 18th century. Some European states (e.g. England) concluded treaties with the barbarian states that were supposed to protect against attacks by pirates. Hamburg could not afford such contracts financially. Conversely, Hamburg merchants' convoys were no longer possible, as the merchants joined foreign convoys who had the same "Turkish passports". In addition, a later trade relationship with France favored Hamburg trade, as France secured the merchant ships with its own warships.

Convoy trips by Hamburg convoy ships
Italy Iberian Peninsula England Northern Arctic Ocean Arkhangelsk
3 65 29 26th 15th

Hamburg convoy ships accompanied a total of 138 voyages between 1665 and 1747 (see table).

A final containment of piracy, especially in the western Mediterranean, was achieved with the occupation of North Africa by France in 1830, so that escorting a convoy became obsolete and was actually only practiced during times of war.

  • Ship models of Hamburg convoy ships (selection)

  • Leopoldus Primus

  • Wapen of Hamburg (I)

  • Wapen of Hamburg (II)

  • Wapen of Hamburg (III)

Free Imperial City of Bremen

Large state coat of arms Bremen
Dutch ships during a punitive expedition in a battle against the barbarian corsairs around 1670; Painting by Lieve Pieterszoon Verschuier

Bremen lost its importance after the fall of the Hanseatic League , but still maintained close trade relations with England . After the Bremen Council had repeatedly used smaller ships to protect the waters of the Weser and the Weser estuary in the 15th to 17th centuries , with the beginning of the War of the Palatinate Succession (1688-1697), larger convoy ships suitable for the sea became necessary because the sea trade in the North Sea was threatened by French war and pirate ships . As early as 1689, therefore, the “ parents of the merchant” had equipped a convoy ship, the frigate Golden Lion , privately financed by Bremen merchants , and used it on the England route. However, it quickly became apparent that this ship was too small to permanently secure trade on this important route. The merchants therefore asked the council to park a larger and better armed ship for this purpose. On December 17, 1690, the council decided that

"Only one, but capable and defension capables ship traditionally bought and acquired"

should be. At the beginning of 1691 a stronger convoy ship with the coat of arms of Bremen was purchased and equipped at the expense of the convoy . According to a council order, the ship should

"Mainly intended for the security of Engel's negotiations" and "not for any other purpose, whereby it can be prevented or troubled, used and empowered" .

French ship of the line attacked by corsair galleys

It was therefore mainly used on the route of trade in England, which led from the Weser to London , Hull , Newcastle and on to Scotland , but occasionally also to accompany ships to Amsterdam, Bergen or the Baltic Sea . It was also stipulated that only large ships with three masts should be placed under the protection of the convoy, as it was feared that smaller ships could hold up the convoy and thus endanger it as a whole.

After the end of the Palatinate War of Succession, escorting the convoy was suspended and the Bremen coat of arms was decommissioned by the council and sold in 1698 at an auction for 6,000 talers to the Bremen merchants Daniel Meinertzhagen , Conrad Grelle, Peter Löning, Friedrich Harloch and comrades. When a few years later with the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714) the threat to maritime trade arose again, in 1704 the council put a new convoy ship into service, called the Roland von Bremen . In the same year, the merchants who had acquired the coat of arms of Bremen also upgraded them to a convoy ship for a trip to Cádiz , Málaga and Alicante . What later happened to the convoy ships is not known.

  • Ship models of Bremen convoy ships (selection)

  • Orlog ship in the Upper Town Hall


See also

literature

  • Ernst Baasch : Hamburg's convoy shipping and convoy being. A contribution to the history of shipping and shipping facilities in the 17th and 18th centuries. Friederichsen, Hamburg 1896, Textarchiv - Internet Archive .
  • Arie Bijl: De Nederlandse Convooidienst. De maritieme bescherming van koopvaardij en zeevisserij tegen piraten en oorlogsgevaar in het verleden. (1330-1800). Nijhoff, 's-Gravenhage 1951.
  • Jörgen Bracker (ed.): God's friend - all the world's enemy. Of piracy and convoy travel. Störtebeker and the consequences. Museum for Hamburg History, Hamburg 2001, ISBN 3-9805772-5-2 .
  • Kurt Grobecker: Hamburg's proud frigates against the corsairs. Convoy shipping in the 17th century. Medien-Verlag Schubert, Hamburg 2007, ISBN 978-3-937843-12-4 .

Notes and individual references

  1. ↑ Pierer's Universal Lexicon of the Past and Present . 4th edition. Publishing house by HA Pierer , Altenburg 1865 ( zeno.org [accessed on January 7, 2020] encyclopedia entry “Convoy”).
  2. ↑ The oldest contract exists for the cities of Den Briell and Zierickzee for the year 1369. Both cities equip a ship at their own expense to protect their Baltic seafarers. The wording suggests that there are differences between the two ships. One ship appears to be a "peace ship", the second a warship; Bijl: De Nederlandse Convooidienst. 1951, pp. 6-7
  3. ↑ Example: painting by Jeronimus van Diest in the holdings of the Château-Musée in Dieppe; Link to the picture: culture.gouv.fr
  4. ↑ The so-called city convoy ships also belonged to the convoy ships. Some cities such as Hamburg and Bremen, which had achieved influence and wealth through extensive commercial activity, were assigned to the German Reich , but enjoyed the status of a Free Imperial City and were thus authorized to commission their own city convoy ships.
  5. ↑ The city council occasionally referred to the ships in its writings as "Orlog" ships, meaning warships. The Admiralty as well as the merchants asserted externally that the ships would always serve the protection and defense of merchant goods and were not commissioned for acts of war in Hamburg.
  6. ↑ In the times when the ships were in Hamburg at roadstead and waiting for new convoy orders, some of the guns were brought into the convoy arsenal and used to defend the city on the city walls if necessary. Towards the end of the Hamburg convoy, however, the guns mostly remained on the ships, so that the entire ship could then be used as a floating battery / guard ship for port-side defense / security
  7. ↑ In the middle of the 17th century Hamburg did not have its own warships, so that initially a few tons of bojer had to serve as escort for the Hamburg merchant fleet. It was not until 44 years after the Hamburg Admiralty was called up and after several quarrels about the financing of the ships that the construction of two convoy ships was finally commissioned in 1667.
  8. ↑ The statistics also include convoy journeys by private convoy ships as well as the journeys of the Tonnbojer used on a makeshift basis between 1665 and 1668
  9. ^ A b Ernst Baasch: Hamburg's convoy shipping and convoy being. 1896, p. 371, Textarchiv - Internet Archive .
  10. ^ Ernst Baasch: Hamburg's convoy shipping and convoy being. 1896, p. 395, Textarchiv - Internet Archive .