Kugelbake
The Kugelbake is a wooden navigation mark in Cuxhaven . Measured from the mean high tide to the center of the small sphere, its height is 28.4 m. The term beacon goes back to the Middle Ages , when all navigation signs - including lighthouses - were so called. It is the symbol of Cuxhaven and has been featured in the city's coat of arms since 1913 . A previous building served as a lighthouse; today the Kugelbake is only illuminated as a tourist attraction at night. It forms the seaward boundary of the Elbe, i.e. the end of the Inner Elbe according to the Federal Waterways Act .
location
The Kugelbake is on a busy shipping lane in Cuxhaven-Döse and was an important point of reference for shipping. Geographically , the Elbe ends here and the North Sea begins ; From a nautical point of view, it separates the Outer and Lower Elbe. The mouth of the Elbe is around 18 km wide at the Kugelbake. The Kugelbake is located near the northernmost point in Lower Saxony . From a symbolic point of view, the navigation mark separates the Elbe and Weser estuaries from one another.
history
The first, 85 feet (24.4 m) high ball beacon was probably erected in December 1703 at the instigation of pilot inspector Paul Allers, after the bearing point, a group of trees, that had been there up to that point was washed away by a violent storm surge .
The structure was made of wood and never had a long lifespan, as wood rot, weather, storms and floods severely affected the beacon. After 30 years at the latest, it had to be renewed or repaired. The first renewal probably took place in 1737.
The Kugelbake has been permanently accessible on foot via a dam since 1782.
In 1853 the Kugelbake light was set up as a nocturnal orientation aid to mark the difficult curvature of the fairway. The beacon burned in a hut that was inside the Kugelbake.
In 1867 the Kugelbake was placed on a round platform made of granite blocks according to plans by the hydraulic engineering inspector Hugo Lentz.
When the Franco-Prussian War broke out in 1870, the light hut was dismantled for tactical reasons so as not to offer the enemy a clue. The Kugelbake also had to give way at the beginning of the First World War . It was rebuilt in 1924. However, instead of the eponymous ball, two round, right-angled discs were attached to the top.
The spherical beacon light was only needed as a reserve from 1878, as a lightship was laid out all year round.
The maritime radio pioneer Jonathan Zenneck tried around 1900 to establish a radio link between the mainland and the ships at sea. A wooden hut was built inside the Kugelbake, which was equipped with the necessary antennas and technical equipment for the very first coastal radio station .
In 2001, the waterways and shipping administration returned the Kugelbake to the Federal Property Office because the navigation mark had lost its nautical significance. A foundation was then established to preserve this historical landmark. The Kugelbake has been owned by the city of Cuxhaven since 2002 and is a listed building . The current construction dates from after 1945.
"Kugelbake" as the ship's name
Based on the sea mark, a survey ship built in 1951 was named MS Kugelbake . It is operated by the Lauenburg Waterways and Shipping Office and carries out soundings on the Elbe for dredging, structural measurements and water science. Its length is 16.27 m, its draft 1.15 m, its width 4.36 m and it is equipped with a 72 kW motor.
There is also the RoRo ship MV Kugelbake (built in 2009), see web links. The Airbus company uses this ship to transport oversized containers between container terminals in the Port of Hamburg, the Finkenwerder plant and the Nordenham plant.
Others
The Kugelbake is a popular place for ship spotters .
literature
- Torsten Thees: The history of the Kugelbake. 2nd Edition. Kugelbake Foundation, Cuxhaven undated [approx. 2005].
Web links
- Landschaftsverband Stade, maritime monuments at the mouth of the Elbe and more, a maritime search for traces with 10 stations
- MV Kugelbake image and data about the ship
Individual evidence
- ↑ Directory E, serial no. 9 der Chronik ( Memento of the original from July 22, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration.
Coordinates: 53 ° 53 ′ 30.6 " N , 8 ° 41 ′ 13.8" E