The herring logger, equipped with a 130 HP auxiliary machine, was launched in April 1933 at the Elsflether shipyard with construction number 186 (NB 186) and was christened Erika . The delivery to the Leerer Heringsfischerei AG took place in May 1933. The Erika received the fishing license plate AL 25 and the call sign DGFL. The ship was in deep sea fishing until 1939 , with trips to Lerwick , Scotland .
The Erika was confiscated by the German Navy on October 16, 1939 and used as V 1012 (12th ship of the 10th outpost flotilla ) first on the North Sea and later on the Baltic Sea. The 10th outpost flotilla consisted of numerous Emder and Leeran loggers, which served the Navy as auxiliary ships . This also included the Erika's sister ship , the Elfriede (AL 26) , also built in Elsfleth . On October 1, 1943, the Navy converted the 10th outpost flotilla to the 10th security flotilla in the 8th security division , whereupon the Erika received the registration number Vs 1012 . It was used in the Kattegat as well as in the Belten and Sunden until the end of the war .
After the end of the war, it was returned to the owners on August 9, 1945 and then used again as a fishing vessel. After several years in fishing, the Erika was sold in 1956 to the Norwegian shipowner Erik Vikanes, who had her converted into a cargo ship in February 1957 at the Ottesens Skipsbyggeri shipyard in Sagvåg ( Stord municipality ). The home port was Haugesund . In 1962, Lars Innvær from Rubbestadneset ( Bømlo municipality ) became the owner of the ship, which in 1963 got a 240 hp diesel engine from the Norwegian manufacturer Wichmann. The Erika was 1965 Bjørn Ottesen from Sagvåg. He put the cargo ship out of service in 1986 and then laid it up in Sagvåg.
In September 1990 Hartwig Schröder bought the ship and renamed it Pippilotta . In Norway, work began on converting it into a three-masted gaff schooner. In 1991 the ship was transferred to Arnis an der Schlei . Cabins were created in the hold, whereby the atmosphere of a traditional ship was retained. From 1992 to 1994 the ship made a trip to the Pitcairn Islands in the Pacific. The ship has been sailing on the Baltic Sea and the adjacent seas since 1994. The Pippilotta is the Federal Forum Youth Travel certified accommodation facility for children and youth.
