Otto Steppes

Otto Steppes (born November 11, 1882 in Nuremberg , † June 12, 1984 in Hamburg ) was a German navigator and director of the nautical school .

Life

Otto Steppes attended the humanistic grammar school in Bamberg. After graduating from high school, he studied mathematics , physics and astronomy at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich . During his studies nautical textbooks, especially Arthur Breusing's book Steuermannskunst , aroused his interest in navigation . He completed his studies with the state examination for teaching at secondary schools. He then served in the Royal Bavarian 5th Infantry Regiment "Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig von Hessen" in Bamberg.

On April 1, 1906, Steppes took up his first position as a teacher at the Grand Ducal Oldenburg Navigation School in Elsfleth. In 1908/09 he traveled as a cadet teacher to Duchess Sophie Charlotte of North German Lloyd for the first time around Cape Horn to the west coast of South America via Australia and back around Cape Horn to Hull. Soon afterwards, Lloyd traveled to the United States at the invitation of Norddeutscher Lloyd.

He served on the Western Front from 1914 to 1917 , where he was captured by the British as a company commander and adjutant of an infantry regiment. In 1919 he returned to Elsfleth, where he resumed his activities at the seafaring school in 1920. In 1921/22 he initially took on a temporary position as director of the Geestemünde Seafaring School and then continued his work in Elsfleth. In 1925 he succeeded Friedrich Bolte as director of the Hamburg Seafaring School . In 1928, on behalf of the Deputation for Trade and Industry, Steppes founded the State Maritime School in Cuxhaven as a branch of the Hamburg Maritime School. At the request of the relevant officer in the Reich Ministry of Transport, Steppes set up examinations for sport seafarers and sport seafarers at the seafaring school in 1934, creating these new terms as well as developing the necessary examination regulations. On October 1, 1948, Steppes gave up the management of the Hamburg seafaring school due to reaching the age limit and retired, where he continued to work in his field of knowledge and gave lectures in the following decades.

Since the 1920s, Steppes published numerous textbooks. The navigation textbook published with Heinrich Meldau was particularly outstanding - this work, known among seafaring students as “The Blue Wonder”, was published in numerous editions and contributed significantly to standardizing nautical training.

Otto Steppes was an honorary member of the Hamburg Nautical Association, which he chaired for over 20 years, a member of the Cape Horniers Association and the student associations Hansea in Hamburg, Visurgis and Roter Sand in Elsfleth. He also received the Seewart medal in silver.

See also : German Nautical Association

Works

• with Heinrich Meldau : Mathematics for seafaring schools. G. Winter publishing house, Bremen 1921, 1927
• with Ernst Wendt: Mathematical tasks for seafaring schools. G. Winters bookstore, Bremen 1930
• with Heinrich Meldau: Textbook of Navigation. G. Winter publishing house, Bremen 1931
• with Heinrich Meldau: Mathematical tasks for seafaring schools. Geist Verlag, Bremen, 1935, 1941, 1944
• with Heinrich Meldau and z. T. Peter Kaltenbach: Textbook of navigation. Geist Verlag, Bremen 1931, 1935, 1954, 1958
• with Heinrich Meldau: radio direction finding. Geist Verlag, Bremen 1935
• with E. Gundelach: Mathematics for boaters. Geist Verlag, Bremen 1944, 1958
• with Otto Fulst and Gerhard Zwiebler: Nautical tables. Geist Verlag, Bremen 1952
• Cornelis Anthonisz, Onderwijsinge van der zee. Publishing house Die Bake, Juist 1966

literature

• Johannes Lütjen: Professor Otto Steppes retired. In: German Hydrographic Journal. Volume 1, Issue 5/6, 1948, pp. 230-231, doi: 10.1007 / BF02226068 .
• H. Prügel: Professor Otto Steppes - 100 years . In: Ship & Harbor . Volume 34, Issue 11. Seehafen-Verlag Erik Blumenfeld, Hamburg November 1982, p. 17 .
• Otto Steppes, “father of the captains”, died - at 101. In: Hamburger Abendblatt. July 21, 1984.
• Maria Möring: The history of the German seaman's school Hamburg. in: Publications of the Wirtschaftsgeschichtliche Forschungsstelle eV, Vol. 51 .. Kabel, Hamburg, 1992, ISBN 3-8225-0213-8 , p. 48.