Piloting on the Weser
The history of piloting on the Weser begins in the 18th century with the mention of Wangerland pilots , who took over ships from Heligoland to continue on the Weser around 1716 . Over the centuries, the Weser plumbing system was shaped by the contrast between the three neighboring rivers: Oldenburg , Prussia and Bremen . Nowadays it is perceived by the two pilots brotherhoods of the Weserlotsen, the pilots brotherhood Weser I and the pilots brotherhood Weser II / Jade .
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18th century
In a report on the flooding of the Butjadingen peninsula at Christmas 1717, three pilots are mentioned who were based in Tettens. An Oldenburg decree, dated October 2, 1720, forbade pilots to bring ships into the Weser that were suspected of having an epidemic on board. At that time the plague raged in the Mediterranean area . In 1761 pilots from Tettens received the privilege of piloting on the Weser from the Danish governor in Oldenburg. For this privilege, they agreed to pay ten percent of their wages to the sovereign. From this community the Fedderwarder - Burhaver -Tettenser Lotsgesellschaft emerged until 1802 .
19th century
A year later, a new pilot ordinance organized the Weserlotsen into two companies: the Fedderwarder Lotsen on the Butjadingen peninsula, who received the privilege for piloting on the Jade, and the Blexener Lotsen. The Blexener Lotsen formed a community that existed until 1836 and was then dissolved, because in the meantime the pilotage on the Weser had been transferred to the Hanseatic City of Bremerhaven Sea Pilot Society, which was founded to open the port of Bremerhaven . When the fairway off Fedderwardersiel slowly silted up in the second half of the 19th century, the Oldenburg pilots moved from there to Blexen . With the opening of the port of Geestemünde , the competition between the Bremen-Prussian and Oldenburg pilots reached its climax. Ever faster pilot boats chased away customers from each other at the mouth of the Weser.
In 1880 the pilotage on the Weser was reorganized and the piloting district between Bremen and Bremerhaven was defined. By the end of the century, two deepening of the Weser had taken place: from originally about one meter in 1747, initially in 1881 to over three and by the well-known hydraulic engineer Ludwig Franzius in 1888 to five meters.
Imperial Navy and First World War
After the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal went into operation in 1895 , it quickly became clear that the number of imperial naval pilots was not sufficient to guarantee the shipping traffic that was now possible for the imperial navy through the new waterway. Therefore, the Weserlotsen was given the opportunity to be trained to become so-called Jade Auxiliary Pilots and to work as such for the Navy. Since this offer hardly met with approval, the ordinance was issued in 1907 that Weserlotsen had to volunteer for this. When the First World War broke out , all eleven Weserlotsmen, who had meanwhile been trained as jade pilots, were immediately drafted into military service and placed under the Wilhelmshaven Naval Pilot Command. The Lotsenschoner the Weser pilots were launched in Bremerhaven and the Weser pilot came as a blocking air traffic controllers and pilots War to the war pilots steamers A, B and C are used.
Interwar period
In 1922, the Weserseelotsengesellschaft was founded from the three pilot companies whose merger was inspired by external circumstances. As part of the attempted takeover of the waterways by a Reich authority since 1921, over which negotiations with the federal states could only slowly be achieved, the Bremen, Oldenburg and Prussian pilot companies on the Weser were placed jointly under the supervision of an authority for the first time. The pilot boats carried the official flag of the Reich Authority at sea, while the Bremen flag was set in the large top. The Weserseelotsengesellschaft existed until 1940 and was then renamed the Lotsenbrüderschaft Bremerhaven .
World War II and post-war period
Since 1934 pilots of the Weserseelotsengesellschaft had been trained as naval pilots , initially voluntarily, from 1937 onwards. When war broke out, some of the members of the Bremerhaven Pilot Brotherhood were drafted into military service. The river pilot house in 1943 and the sea pilot house in Bremerhaven in 1944 were destroyed by bombs. Bremen and Bremerhaven were initially taken by British troops, but then handed over to the American armed forces and became the main reloading point for their troops in southern Germany. As part of the shipping traffic that then began in front of and on the Weser, the Weser pilots were needed again and the Weserseelotsengesellschaft became active again with two pilot boats. On July 23, 1946, the re-establishment of the Deutscher Lotsenbund in Brunsbüttel initiated the reorganization of the pilotage system. With the passage of the Maritime Pilot Act in 1954, the two pilots brotherhoods of the Weserlotsen, the pilots brotherhood Weser I and the pilots brotherhood Weser II / Jade came into being .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b History of the Weser pilotage system on the website of the Lotsenbrüderschaft Weser II / Jade accessed on July 12, 2016
- ↑ a b Section 'Historical' on the website of the Lotsenbrüderschaft Weser I accessed on July 12, 2016
literature
Günther Spelde: "The history of the pilot brotherhood on the Outer Weser and the Jade". 3rd edition, HM Hauschild Verlag, Bremen 1996.