Pommerania (ship, 1873)
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The Pommerania was a Hammonia class ship and sailed for the Hamburg-America Line .
On July 26, 1873, the Pommerania, built by Caird & Company in Greenock , was launched to begin its maiden voyage on December 3, 1873. The ship offered space for 100 people in the first, 70 people in the second and 600 people in the third class.
On October 23, 1878, it set out on its last trip from Hamburg to New York, and the return journey began on November 14. On the leg from Plymouth to Cherbourg there were 109 passengers and 111 crew members on board. On the night of November 25th to 26th, 1878, the Pommerania collided with the sailing ship Moel Eilian near Folkestone at full speed . The Moel Eilian , who was later assigned the blame for the collision, hit the Pommerania about midships on the starboard side, was seriously damaged herself, but still got to Dover .
The crew of the Glengarry responded to the distress signals of the Pommerania , which remained buoyant for about 20 minutes. They rescued some of the castaways and later received a symbolic reward of 150 pounds.
The accident killed around 50 people. Four of the Pommerania's lifeboats were destroyed in the collision, the others were lowered into the water. However, some of the passengers drowned while trying to rescue valuables from the cabins in the ship that suddenly sank. Captain HF Schwensen, whose 126th voyage as captain was the unlucky voyage, was also dragged into the depths, but came to the surface again and was finally picked up by the City of Amsterdam and brought to Maassluis .
The wreck of the Pommerania is now a destination for amateur divers and is considered to be particularly attractive. The Pommerania is about 25 meters depth off the coast of Kent at position 51 ° 1 '39.5 " N , 1 ° 19' 7.3" O .