Restaurador
 “Restaurador” arrives in Curaçao under the German flag.
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The Restaurador was a Venezuelan gunboat that was built as a private yacht by the American railroad billionaire Jay Gould in 1883 and was considered the largest luxury yacht in the world at the time. After the yacht was bought by the Venezuelan government as a warship in 1900 , the Atalanta, now renamed Restaurador (Spanish: The Renewer), was used in the Venezuelan civil war and hunted the infamous rebel steamer Ban Righ in vain . In December 1902 the Restaurador was hijacked by the German small cruiser Gazelle in the port of Guanta in the course of the blockade of Venezuela as part of German gunboat policy and put into service as a guard ship under the German Imperial War flag . She took part in the international blockade under the command of Lieutenant Titus Türk ; the American tabloids then referred to Türk and his team as "Pirates of the Caribbean". After the end of the blockade, the Restaurador was returned to the Venezuelan Navy. In the summer of 1903 she took part in the fighting towards the end of the civil war, which finally confirmed General Cipriano Castro as president. The restaurador was renamed General Salom in 1920 and scrapped in 1950.
prehistory
The Atalanta equipped the largest and fastest yacht in the world and with modernster technology on its completion as Türk wrote: "rigged the form of high with three masts with spars and far ausspringendem Bug ship provided was a very pretty, the internal arrangement of the salons and living spaces a seldom beautiful one. Everything carved in oak or cedar wood, actually every desk, every buffet is a work of art. All curtains, the covers of the heavy carved armchairs and sofas made of silk brocade or atlas, in all, including the smaller rooms, large, splendidly polished mirrors, all windows in doors or deck lights polished mirror glass or colored glass, the rest of the dishes we found, the candlestick, chandeliers made of heavily plated copper. In addition, there is electric light, steam heating, ice machines and cooling rooms - in short, a vehicle that could hardly be built with more sophisticated equipment. "
The Scientific American on November 15, 1884. "Her lines forward give an easy and graceful entrance in the water; her run is long and smooth, finishing with an elliptical overhanging stern of the true american type, a striking feature of this most perfect boat. "
Just three months after completion, there was a dramatic accident: on September 4, 1883, the yacht in full speed in the harbor of New York rammed a harbor tug, which was cut in the middle and immediately sank; apparently some of the tug's men were missing. Amazingly, the Atalanta did not suffer any damage. Since Jay Gould died on December 2, 1892, the yacht apparently passed into the possession of his son Howard Gould, later husband of Grete Mosheim . The Atalanta does not seem to have used it; in any case, there was speculation in the New York Times as early as October 1893 whether it might not be sold to the Brazilian government. The background was apparently the naval mutiny in Rio de Janeiro ( A Revolta da Armada ) in 1893/94. Since its own navy was in rebellion against the government to rebuild the monarchy, the latter bought warships and trading vehicles in Europe and the United States to form a new navy. The sale did not take place, and in 1895 the Atalanta took part in the Kiel Week . In 1899 the Colombian government planned to buy the Atalanta for $ 120,000 , of which $ 80,000 was earmarked for the purchase of the actual ship and the remainder for armament. In fact, it was not until 1900 that the Cipriano Castro government bought the yacht and renamed it Restaurador . Since Castro saw himself as the "innovator" of Venezuela, the name of the restaurador was heavily symbolic. Together with the gunboat or cruiser Bolivar (ex Spanish Galicia ), which was purchased at the same time , Castro had the strongest navy in the southern Caribbean, which Colombia had nothing to oppose.
In fact, however, the new navy was by no means used to confront foreign powers, but rather to ward off filibuster companies from Castro's opponents. The so-called Liberals tried from Colombia and the Dutch Curaçao to send expeditions to Venezuela by land and sea to trigger local uprisings. To counterbalance the Bolivar and Restaurador to own, bought the Revolutionary Committee in 1901 in London the steamer Ban Righ (Scottish: "The female king", so the queen, saying, "Benn Rih"), who in Antwerp to a warship was converted . From December 1901 to March 1902, the Ban Righ operated off the coast of Venezuela and shot a smaller government gunboat to the wreck in one battle. Due to machine defects, possibly caused by sabotage, the rebel steamer was incapacitated. It was in Cartagena , Colombia, and was apparently bought in 1907 for the Colombian Navy.
During the hunt for the Ban Righ , Naval Officer Román Delgado Chalbaud was in command of the restaurador . 27 years later, as a general and leader of a revolutionary junta, he himself was to undertake a filibuster operation against Venezuela - against his former companion and now president Juan Vicente Gómez . Like the revolutionaries of 1901, he also bought a "warship" abroad - the German steamer Falke . At the end of December 1902 the Restaurador was boarded in the port of Guanta by a command of the German small cruiser Gazelle .
The Restaurador as a German aid ship in the Venezuela blockade
On December 11, 1902, the operation of the small cruiser Gazelle began against the Restaurador in the port of Guanta in the state of Anzoátegui . In the early morning the flagship of the East American cruiser division, the large cruiser Vineta under Commodore Georg Scheder , appeared and informed the Gazelle that the ultimatum against the Castro government had expired and that the Restaurador had to be boarded. Thereupon, at 9:40 a.m., Leutnant zur See von Bechtolsheim was dispatched by boat to request the handover:
“Bring the flag down within 10 minutes and get off the ship. I will meet every attempt at resistance with ruthless violence. "
The commandant, Delgado Chalbaud, asked for a ten-minute delay, but the Gazelle's command suspected a ruse and immediately began to send out a boarding party consisting of their four dinghies: the steam pinass under Türk, the oar pin under Lieutenant Hugo von Rosenberg , the first cutter under Oberleutnant zur See Hermann Lorey and the dinghy under boatswain's mate Materne.
The boarding of the restaurador proceeded without resistance from the Venezuelan side. The Venezuelan crew left the gunboat in compliance with the protocol. A detachment of infantry on standby did not intervene in the boarding. The ship was put into operation immediately and at 11.00 a.m., by a signal from Vineta, Türk was appointed commander of the Restaurador , which was placed under the German flag of war. Turk's designation cruiser is wrong and certainly comes from himself; in all respects, both in terms of size and armament, the Restaurador was a gunboat and was referred to as such in the international fleet lists.
Due to the severe neglect of the ship, the Restaurador began her voyage to Port of Spain , the capital of Trinidad , for a thorough overhaul on December 12 ; a British colony at the time. Due to the pollution of the ship's rooms, the German crew lived on the upper deck under the sun sails. The restaurador arrived in Port of Spain on December 13th, and a boarding house was rented as a temporary residence. In the next few days the ship was thoroughly disinfected by sulphurizing, all upholstered furniture, blankets, mattresses etc. were disinfected on land and the ship was cleaned by contract workers. It was also thoroughly painted and, as far as possible, all auxiliary equipment necessary for a warship was installed. The crew received extensive help from the British.
Thanks to a real Christmas tree donated by the German consul in Port of Spain, a Christmas party took place on December 24th , to which not only the consul but also German residents in Trinidad were invited. On January 10, 1903, the restaurador was halfway finished, but the working pressure of the boiler was only 45 instead of 120 pounds per square inch, i.e. only a third of the actually required output. At least a top speed of 8 kn could be achieved with it. On the evening of January 10th, the restaurador arrived in Puerto Cabello , and on January 12th the ship was inspected there by Commodore Scheder.
Two days later, on January 14th, the restaurador started the blockade service. The aim was to stop the smuggling trade with the mainland. Ultimately, the ship was insufficiently prepared for this task. Even if Türk only hints at this, it becomes clear that the defective machine severely impaired the seaworthiness of the ship. There was also a shortcoming that is typical of merchant ships that are subsequently converted into warships: Lack of stability due to the installation of heavy artillery pieces , especially at the bow: "The restaurador lurched so much that the standard compass and column were torn from the deck anchorage - the only useful compass on board. However, it could be repaired a few days later. "
On January 16, the gunboat was off the port of Tucacas in Falcón state ; now a popular resort. The port was in the hands of the government troops so that Türk prepared the crew for a possible boarding by the enemy (command: "Reject enter!"). Mauser rifles found on board were also used for this purpose , which were then repaired. However, on the night of January 17th, the main steam pipe burst. With the simplest means, the pipe was repaired in 40 hours while the ship was practically immobile. How desperate the situation on board was can be seen from the fact that it was planned to equip the surf boat with a sail and use it to search for the flagship, which had to be located at Puerto Cabello. But it was possible in time to establish a nocturnal headlight connection to the Vineta , which detached the small cruiser Falke . Its commander and chief engineer approved the repair measures.
In the following years the restaurador operated off La Guaira , Curaçao and other places off the Venezuelan coast. During this time, the routine crew change also took place, due to the replacement transport to and from Germany. Only Türk remained on board. On February 23, 1903, the gunboat in the port of Puerto Cabello was handed over to the Venezuelan authorities because the blockade had ended. This ended this unusual episode in German naval history: "For us survivors, the memory of the Caribbean pirate era - the American newspapers loved to call us the Caribbean pirates - and the little restaurador will remain an unforgettable one."
The restaurador after being returned to the Venezuelan authorities
In 1920 the restaurador was renamed General Salom . Bartolomé Salom (1770–1863) was a leading soldier in the War of Independence against Spain and in 1909 was declared a national hero. Presumably the renaming had political reasons: The name Restaurador was possibly still connoted with Cipriano Castro as a self-proclaimed "innovator" of Venezuela. Since Castro repeatedly speculated on a return to Venezuela until his death in 1924 in Puerto Rican exile, it could have been an attempt by his successor Gómez 'to erase the memory of Castro.
The fate of General Solom is unknown. Although Gómez constantly reformed the army, navy and air force , he relied heavily on building up the air force, which was trained by a French military mission. When the German cargo steamer Falke operated as a revolutionary ship off Venezuela in August 1929 , only the old cruiser Mariscal Sucre was used against him. The General Salom was scrapped in 1950, probably at the La Guaira shipyard.
literature
- Titus Türk: 75 days on board the cruiser "Restaurador" , 2nd edition Lübeck 1905.
- B. Weyer (ed.): Taschenbuch der Kriegsflotten , XV. Born in 1914, Munich 1914, p. 117.
- Alexander Bredt (ed.): Weyers Taschenbuch der Kriegsflotten, XXXVI. Born 1943/44 , Munich / Berlin 1944, p. 218.
- Adrian J. English: Armed Forces of Latin America. Their Histories, Development, Present Strength and Military Potential , 2nd ed. London 1985, p. 453.
- J. Fred Rippy / Clyde E. Hewitt: Cipriano Castro, "Man without a Country" . In: American Historical Review , 55, 1949, pp. 36-53.
- Ed Holm: Yachting's Golden Age: 1880-1905 , New York 1999.
- American Steam Yachts . In: Scientific American v. November 15, 1884.
- The Atalanta a Gunboat. Colombia Purchases George L. Gould's Big Steam Yacht . In: New York Times v. July 21, 1900.
- Atalanta for Venezuela. Colombia's Neighbor May Secure Jay Gould's Yacht . In: New York Times v. November 11, 1900.
- Gould Yacht Not Wanted. Commissioner Isaza Says Columbia Cannot Afford it . In: New York Times v. September 30, 1900.
- Opera Comique Trip of Venezuela's Navy. Rich Fittings of Jay Golud's Old Yacht Burned for Fuel . In: New York Times v. March 5, 1901.
- Venezuelan Warship Flew American Flag. Adopted Ruse in Order to Bombard Ciudad Bolivar . In: New York Times v. September 25, 1902.
- Erich Gröner u. a .: The German warships 1815-1945 , vol. 8/2: river vehicles, Ujäger, outpost boats , auxiliary minesweepers , coastal protection associations , Munich 1993, p. 385. ISBN 3-7637-4807-5
Web links
- Figure of the Atalanta
- JAY GOULD'S YACHT LAUNCHED .; NAMED THE ATALANTA BY THE SPECULATOR'S DAUGHTER, MISS NELLIE GOULD . The New York Times, published April 8, 1883
- Painting SS Atalanta 1911 - George Gould who owned the vessel between 1907 and 1925.
- Millionaire Howard Gould Steam Yacht “Niagara”, third son of the late Jay Gould - Originally published in the “Metropolitan Magazine”. October 1898.