Oberländer (ship type)
The Oberlander , also known as Mainzer Lade , is a type of ship that can be traced from the late Middle Ages to the 17th century and was used on the Middle Rhine . It is named after the Rhenish Oberland . This type of ship was undetectable beneath Cologne since the 14th century, when it was no longer possible to pass the Cologne stack . For the Oberlanders, the journey therefore ended in Cologne on the Oberländer Ufer near the Salzgassentor, where the goods were unloaded and offered at Cologne market conditions before they were transferred to so-called Dutch people on the Niederländer Ufer downstream . This type of ship for the Lower Rhine was more bulbous and larger, had a keel, a fixed rudder and sails .
The ship
Oberlanders were robust, clinker- clad, closed-top cargo ships about 15 to 25 meters in length with a trapezoidal floor plan, flat bottom and shallow draft . They were easy to maneuver even with a heavy load and were therefore particularly suitable for the difficult current conditions on the Upper and Middle Rhine with the many rapids, rocks and sandbanks. The pram-like widened bow was 2.5–3.5 m wide and was only slightly above the waterline . After aft to the almost twice as wide and raised tail which rose Deck relatively steeply. A cabin called "Ruff" could be built into the stern , which served as an apartment for the helmsman; her ridge was about eight meters above the waterline. The Oberlanders could land with their bow on the bank without quays and be loaded and unloaded via a plank ; During loading, the ship sank deeper into the water at the stern, but the point of support on the bank was not subjected to any greater stress. The hold, the “Ark”, was below deck and the hatch was closed during the journey. The load capacity of an Oberlander is usually given with a maximum of 50 tons, but there are also estimates of 100 to 120 tons.
At the stern, on the starboard side, a large, heavy lowering rudder was attached to the steering, which the helmsman standing between the stern cabin and loading hatch operated. When drifting downstream, the ship was kept in the current with a large bow rudder, called a "rag" and operated by several helmsmen. When driving upriver the top countries were of horses or humans towed ; In addition, in the first third of the ship they had a short, up to about 7 meters high, strong towing mast that was not suitable for sailing. The towline ran from the top of the mast over a block called "dog's head" down to one of the two towing bollards on port and starboard about 3 meters in front of the mast; from the boom tip were ropes stretched to rear balance on the mast top to the train and to give the pole the necessary support. Over short distances Oberlander could with up to ten long belt rowed be.
Each Oberlander had one, but mostly two boats , called "Schluppen", in tow. A light rowing was needed to bring the towline ashore or to lift it over obstacles in the water if it got tangled. The ship servant responsible for this was the “line catcher” who had to snap open the line thrown from the ship. The larger boat was used for lightening when the ship ran aground and part of the cargo had to be reloaded. Since sand and gravel banks shifted with each flood , this was common, especially when towing. The ship was constantly pulled towards the bank by the towline and the helmsman therefore always had to steer hard; one wrong maneuver could cause the ship to run aground on a sand or gravel bank.
From the 18th century, the Oberländer was replaced by the Bönder .
Footnotes
- ^ History of navigation on the Rhine: Panorama of Mainz 1636
- ^ Archbishop Konrad von Hochstaden granted the city of Cologne the right to stack on May 7, 1259. All goods, especially those transported on the Rhine, had to be offered to the citizens of Cologne for three days.
- ↑ Paragraph The Oberländer - the medieval cargo ship
- ↑ Paragraph The Oberländer - the medieval cargo ship
literature
- Clemens von Looz-Corswarem: On the development of navigation on the Rhine from the Middle Ages to the 19th century , pp. 12–13 (PDF, 36 pages, 921 kB).