Red sand
| Red sand lighthouse | ||
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| Place: | Outer Weser | |
| Location: | In the Outer Weser northeast of the island of Wangerooge | |
| Geographical location: | 53 ° 51 '11.4 " N , 8 ° 4' 55.8" E | |
| Fire height : | 24 m | |
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| Scope knows: | 10 nm (18.5 km ) | |
| Optics: | Fresnel lens | |
| Operating mode: | electric since 1904 | |
| Function: | lighthouse | |
| Construction time: | 1880 to 1885 | |
| Operating time: | November 1, 1885 - November 11, 1986 | |
Roter Sand is the name of a lighthouse in the German Bight . The structure, which was completed in 1885, is no longer in operation as a beacon , but still serves as a daylight. The lighthouse was the first built on the seabed structure . It became a symbol of technical progress in the German Empire and is still the epitome of a lighthouse in Germany today. On October 31, 2010, it was awarded the title of Historic Landmark of Civil Engineering in Germany .
description
The Roter Sand lighthouse has a total height of 52.5 meters, which also includes the underwater foundation . At low tide , its height is 30.7 meters above sea level . The height of the fire is 24 meters above the mean high tide.
The foundation is cylindrical and, when the water is low, protrudes around 1.5 meters as a platform above the surface of the water. Above this, the tower tapers conically towards the top. It has a red and white paintwork that starts over a black base area about eight meters high. The order of the colors is white-red-white-red-white, with the individual color sections simultaneously marking the five floors. The entrance door is located at the lower end of the lowest white ring.
The lowest room serves as a storage room. A staircase leads to the bedroom above. This is followed by the kitchen with a coal stove, cupboards and an upholstered bench and the lounge or duty room with a large table and chairs. From this branch off three bay windows . Two of them are the same height as the floor itself, while the third is even higher. The bay windows used to house the side fires and face northwest, south and northeast. Another staircase leads from the service room to the balcony, which runs around the lantern house with the copper dome. A walk around the balcony is not possible, however, as the high bay window blocks the way at one point.
In the 1940s, the room layout was still different. At that time, the interior of the black lacquered sector was accessible and served as a storage room. At that time, the technology for generating electricity was located on the floor on the entry level (today's storage room).
technology
History of technology
The first beacon on the Red Sand was a two-wick kerosene burner. The identification was created by otter apertures , which were opened and closed by a clockwork operated by a chain with weights running through the entire tower shaft. The cross-brand fire in the northwest and south of the tower both showed a steady fire. Single-wicked Argandian petroleum lamps served as a light source . For the entrance to the Outer Weser, a double-wicked Argand lamp was installed as a side light in the northeast bay.
Just one year after the tower was commissioned in November 1885, an electric arc lamp was used. The lighthouse was connected to Wangerooge by a submarine cable to generate the electricity it needed . After installing the arc lamp, the tower identifier has been changed and no longer needed Quermarkenfeuer deleted in the bay windows. The side fire in the large bay window was retained. Since the cable connection was frequently interrupted, it was decided after eight years to switch back to petroleum incandescent light.
At the beginning of the 1940s, a large belt lamp with a light bulb and a changing device was installed in the lantern house . The side fire in the northeast bay was retained and also got a telegraph device and a fog- sound transmitter . From 1945 onwards, an incandescent gas light operated with propane served as the light source . The Rote Sand was electrified again in 1947 with diesel generators with around 110 volts DC voltage . These supplied the entire tower with electricity and charged the nickel-iron accumulators for night operation. The now secure power supply made it possible to use electric 1000 watt beacons, which significantly increased the scope of the fire.
Some time later the lantern house on the balcony was replaced by a new one.
When the replacement lighthouse at Alte Weser started operating in 1964, an automatically controlled small propane gas fire was installed in the Rote Sand.
Last beacon
The beacon list from 1985 has the following entry for Roter Sand:
"F. w / r / gn. 9/7 / 6sm 23m
w.167.5 ° -185, r.-225, w.-254.5,
r.-293.5, w.-312, r.-324,
w.-328 (leading sector), gn.-341 °
Faint: 341 ° -167.5 ° "
He had a celebratory fire in the sector colors white, red and green. White had 9 nm (about 16.7 km), red 7 nm and green 6 nm nominal range . The fire was arranged at a height of 23 m above the MThw .
In the direction of 185 ° to 293.5 ° it could be seen as a cross- mark fire (red-white-red). The sector for changing direction (white) could be seen in the direction of 225 ° –254.5 °. In the Alte Weser there was the area where the ships had to change their course from SW to S to SSW (arriving) or from N to NNE to NE (leaving).
In the direction of 312 ° to 341 ° it could be seen as a beacon (red-white-green) for the fairway in the Weser. The white directional sector could be seen in the direction of 324 ° –328 °.
In the direction of 341 ° –167.5 ° the fire could be seen as a rather weak white fire, in the other directions not mentioned so far as white fire.
history
First ideas
Around 1875 there were two lightships in the Outer Weser with the task of marking and thus securing the fairway. In 1878 the people of the Weser, Bremen, Oldenburg and Prussia agreed to jointly regulate the navigation system. The Prussian Minister of Commerce proposed that another lightship be ordered into the Outer Weser. However, this was rejected because investigations showed that it was impossible to lay a ship on the red sand mussel bank . Instead, the buoy and beacon office in Bremerhaven made a counter-proposal in the same year, which provided for the construction of a fixed tower on the edge of the shoal and was accepted relatively quickly because the costs for a lighthouse were estimated to be lower than those for a lightship.
On August 23, 1878, construction officer Carl Friedrich Hanckes , who was then head of the port construction department, was commissioned to draw up a design for the planned tower. The plan presented by Hanckes envisaged a structure whose substructure should rest on a caisson . Almost two years later, on September 15, 1880, the national tender for the construction of the lighthouse ended and two companies submitted their cost estimates. Bavier, Kunz & Weiß in Bremen asked for 445,000 marks , while the offer from Harkort in Duisburg was just under 480,000 marks. Due to the lower costs, the decision was made in favor of the Bremen company on October 2nd.
Creation of the structure
The caisson was built in the Kaiserhafen in Bremerhaven in the winter months of 1880/1881. The delivery took place in good weather conditions on May 22, 1881, when two steam tugs began to pull the structure to the construction site. However, they did not arrive there until May 26th, because the caisson had broken loose in between and ran onto a sandbank. He couldn't be dragged free until the morning of the next day. On the red sand, the caisson was to be lowered to about 22 meters below low water, washed into the seabed and filled with concrete. To do this, the inside of the container was pressurized so that it briefly acted as a diving chamber. The work had hardly started when the caisson tilted when it was lowered. Work was halted until the annual Whitsun storms put the box back up. Due to this delay, it was not possible to fill the box with sufficient concrete before the onset of the heavy autumn storms. On October 13, 1881, the caisson was destroyed in a severe storm surge and sank. The first attempt at founding a company had failed.
The construction business Bavier, Kunz & Weiß was hit so hard by this setback that it had to file for bankruptcy a few weeks later . As a result, on March 7, 1882, Hanckes applied for a second attempt at founding the company. This time, Harkort received the order at a price of around 853,000 marks, which almost doubled the previous cost estimate and roughly corresponds to the current equivalent of 6.3 million euros. The contract was awarded on August 31, 1882. It was decided on September 21 that a second attempt should actually be started. Over the winter of 1882/1883, a new caisson, more stable than the previous one, was built in Bremerhaven's Kaiserhafen. It had a side height of 18.5 meters, was finished in the spring of 1883 and was towed out of the port on May 26th. It was successfully lowered about 1,100 meters north of the old construction site two days later. Then the side walls were raised and the caisson was filled with 316 cubic meters of concrete by hand. This time it survived the autumn storms, which only caused some minor damage, well. On May 22, 1884, the foundation of the lighthouse was completed.
Construction began on June 10 of the same year and work on the tower shaft began in July, so that the tower had already been raised to the third floor by the beginning of November. The lowest level was clad with masonry and provided with a fire-proof ceiling. At that time, on November 3rd, twelve workers were billeted in the tower to finish the interior work while the supply ships called at the ports. From the beginning of December to April 1885 work on the tower could not be carried out due to adverse weather conditions.
In the summer of 1885, on August 10th, the living room, the bay windows and the lantern were completed, after which the installation of the lighting began.
On October 23, the building was accepted by Hanckes. Eight days later, on November 1, 1885, the fire was lit at midnight. The Roter Sand lighthouse was completed just seven years after the initial planning. It was the first offshore structure in the world and is considered a pioneering structural and technical achievement at that time.
In operation from 1885–1964
The lighthouse worked without problems for almost 35 years; In the 1920s, however, it lost some of its importance due to the relocation of the sandbanks and the resulting changes in the fairway , but it remained very important for the Outer Jade and the Outer Weser.
At the beginning of 1933, the stone filling around the tower was increased to ensure greater stability. There was some minor construction work in the 1940s. So were z. B. a new lantern house and the lanterns in the bay windows, which point to the northwest and south, removed. In 1953, analyzes revealed massive rust perforations in the steel skin in the low water area. Then all steel components, the masonry, the concrete and the stone fill were examined until 1955. Serious damage to the foundation was found that could only be repaired by extensive and costly construction work. Otherwise the stability of the tower could not have been guaranteed.
After the renovations had been completed, investigations were carried out in 1958 and 1959 to determine whether the tower could be used for a radar deck. It should thus form part of a long radar chain. However, it turned out that the steel jacket had holes in it. Salt water was also found in the concrete. The tower was therefore unsuitable for a radar system due to its inadequate stability, especially since it offered too little space for the necessary operating rooms for modern navigation technology. For this reason, from 1961, the replacement structure of the Alte Weser was built about three kilometers north of the Rote Sand . This went into operation on September 1, 1964, making the Roter Sand lighthouse almost superfluous. Its last crew was withdrawn that same day. The Roter Sand lighthouse now only served as a daytime visual sign and at night with a small propane fire as a counterfire to the Hohe Weg lighthouse and two cross- brand lights near the Old Weser.
Transitional phase 1964–1987
Until 1974 the tower was financed by the Bremerhaven Waterways and Shipping Authority . In 1975 the old fog bell and the clockwork of the tower were dismantled and transported as exhibits to the German Maritime Museum in Bremerhaven. In the years that followed, there was disagreement about what to do with the tower. Some advocated a complete demolition, others an erection on land. However, there was protest against these plans among the population. As a result, all parliamentary groups in Bremen decided on November 16, 1978 to preserve the lighthouse, which a year later was classified as a "cultural and historical monument of considerable importance" by the state monument preservation authorities . On September 22, 1982, the Bremerhaven magistrate founded a fund for the rescue and maintenance of the lighthouse and a few weeks later the Lower Saxony State Office for the Preservation of Monuments put the Red Sand under monument protection .
The responsible Federal Ministry of Transport, as the owner of the tower, pleaded for it to be completely demolished, as it was now of no importance. On January 13, 1983, the Friends' Association Rettet den Leuchtturm Roter Sand e. V. with the aim of keeping the tower in place. This association, which was financed by donations and organized several public discussions on this topic, achieved a great success in November of the year it was founded, when the Federal Minister for Transport, Building and Urban Development, Werner Dollinger , gave up the position he had now assumed, the upper part of the lighthouse as a link in a new leading light line to Nordenham , and instead decided not to change the location of the building.
The problem, however, was that a general renovation of the damaged tower foundation, which the lighthouse needed if it remained in its location, would have cost around 8 million German marks (equivalent to a current equivalent of around 7 million euros). Nobody could and would not raise such a sum, so a cheaper alternative had to be found. The graduate engineer Rolf Seedorf from the Bremerhaven Waterways and Shipping Authority came up with the idea of putting a steel jacket over the tower as a sleeve , which should surround the almost destroyed caisson to a depth of 10 meters. Then the space between the jacket and the caisson should be filled with concrete. This solution was agreed and the expected costs were estimated at 1.12 million DM. At the turn of the year 1986/1987 the budget committee of the Bundestag approved the 700,000 DM to be paid by the federal government Sand, the state of Lower Saxony, which was responsible for sand, contributed around DM 300,000 to the restoration and the development association contributed almost DM 120,000. In addition, the federal government agreed to provide a further DM 500,000 for the maintenance of the tower after the work was completed.
In the spring of 1987, large-scale investigations began to determine the stability.
Before these renovations began, the last fire was extinguished on November 12, 1986. The Roter Sand lighthouse was in operation for a total of 101 years and 11 days.
Restoration 1987–1990
On April 24, 1987, the initial examinations such. B. Trial excavations were completed and from the beginning of June 18 steel panels were joined together to form a sleeve in the Kaiserhafen in Bremerhaven, where the two caissons were also built. This work was completed on July 28th and the 110-tonne and 15-meter-by-11-meter-by-10 meter cuff was lifted by the ENAK floating crane on a trial basis .
Meanwhile, 14 days earlier, on July 14th, a self-propelled pontoon from the Ludwig Voss company from Cuxhaven had already set sail to start preparatory work on the lighthouse on the same day. A 1.5 meter wide and two meter deep trench was dug around the foundation and the tower base was subsequently cleaned of algae, rust and shells by divers using high pressure equipment. After the work was completed after six days, the pontoon returned.
The weather interrupted the work for almost two months. ENAK left Bremerhaven on September 23, 1987 and was supposed to put the cuff over the tower one day later, but this was prevented by strong winds. A second attempt was scheduled for September 30th. The crane left the port at 8 a.m. and reached the lighthouse three hours later. At around 1.30 p.m. when the tide was low, the steel jacket was slowly pulled up. The crane moved towards the tower as planned. Then they began to lower the cuff over the tower again, with the helmsman of the ENAK standing on the top of the tower and giving commands by radio. Slipping it over worked without any problems and without a single touch, although there was sometimes only 50 centimeters of free space between the jacket and the tower. Only 50 minutes after the start of the action, the coat had completely enclosed the caisson.
Then the 30 centimeter wide gap was filled with steel slag and 40 cubic meters of concrete. In the end, the concrete layer was 60 centimeters high.
The restoration was officially completed on November 8, 1987 and the Bremerhaven Waterways and Shipping Authority handed over the Roter Sand lighthouse to the German Foundation for Monument Protection one day later . In fact, only the first renovation phase was over. The exterior was then painted and then on June 13, 1989 , the Ludwig Voss company from Cuxhaven began removing rust from all steel parts and priming the jacket twice and the rivets three times . This work could be completed within five days.
As the last act of the restoration, three top coats were applied by June 22, 1990.
crew
From November 1, 1885 to September 1, 1964, there was always a beacon keeper and an assistant on the tower. Every eight weeks they received a delivery of provisions, post and newspapers by boat, but were also able to contact the mainland by telegraph . The crew had two cisterns in the foundation of the lighthouse and a freshwater condenser. In an emergency, a lifeboat hung from a boom on the balcony . When it was foggy it was the task of the two men to ring the fog bell three times, 40 seconds apart.
On January 9, 1964, the crew of the Rote Sand was awarded the gold medal for deserving lighthouse keepers .
Todays situation
In 1995 the lighthouse received two mooring albums for ships. Until 1999, attempts were made to reconstruct the interior as true to the original as possible based on old photos. In 2001 the interior and exterior painting was renewed.
In the summer of 2011, the LVP 1 floating crane from Voss was used to repair damage to the outside and the facade was painted twice in white, red and black.
protection and care
Nowadays, the paint on the tower has to be completely renewed every five years, for which purpose the outer skin is freed from salt crystals in advance with fresh water. An anti-rust varnish is also applied. The work costs around 65,000 euros. Small areas need to be touched up from time to time between the main coats.
The maintenance of the tower is now financed jointly by the German Foundation for Monument Protection and the trust foundation “Stiftung Leuchtturm Roter Sand”, which it manages. The “Red Sand Lighthouse Foundation” was established in 1987 to “maintain and maintain the lighthouse as a monument, protect it from danger and repair it if necessary”. The income from the foundation's capital forms a solid basis for securing the tower, but is not enough by itself to maintain this unique lake structure in the long term. Only with the help of many enthusiastic friends can the future of the lighthouse be secured for future generations. Donations to the foundation serve to finance ongoing repair work and donations to the asset pool ensure that the annual income of the foundation for the maintenance of the lighthouse grows in the long term. In Bremerhaven, the association “Rettet den Leuchtturm Roter Sand e. V. “volunteers the work of the Roter Sand Lighthouse Foundation.
tourism
From 1990 to spring 2011 there was an opportunity to visit the lighthouse. The crossing took place from the Seebäderkaje in Bremerhaven with the Watten salvage tug Goliath of the “Schifffahrts-Compagnie Bremerhaven e. V. “, which could accommodate a maximum of 42 passengers with a crew of six. During the crossing all the ship's rooms were open to guests. They reached the tower via an extendable footbridge and a ladder. The stay lasted about an hour.
In addition, from July 2, 1999, it was possible to spend a night in the lighthouse during the summer months. The six berths of the former crew were available for this. If the tower had a new "crew" for one night, the flag of Germany was hoisted on the flagpole . Since it is impossible to moor on the tower at more than wind force 4, an emergency supply was available in the event that guests had to stay longer on the tower than planned.
When the tug “Goliath” was in the shipyard, it was found that the safety of the journey was no longer guaranteed. For this reason, the ship was decommissioned in April 2011 and the trips to the Roter Sand lighthouse were canceled for 2011.
After the renewed renovation in 2011/2012, a suitable feeder ship was searched for to resume boat trips to the lighthouse. The search for a replacement ship was successful in 2012. This is why Bremerhaven Touristik, in cooperation with the German Foundation for Monument Protection, has been offering day trips with lighthouse exploration and overnight trips to the “Roter Sand” lighthouse during the summer season since May 2013. The former buoy laying ship " LEV Taifun " was used as the transport ship . In February 2015, the tourist offer was temporarily suspended for economic reasons, but was later resumed.
Uses
The Roter Sand lighthouse, with its red and white marking, served as a model for the coloring of later lighthouses. It is very popular and is considered the classic lighthouse by a large part of the population. Due to its fame, it was included in the "Lighthouses" stamp series of the Deutsche Post . It adorns a 55-cent stamp that was issued on July 8, 2004 . On November 1, 2015, Deutsche Post issued a special stamp to mark the 130th anniversary of the lighthouse.
Immediately after the completion of the lighthouse, Gerhard von Thienst wrote the following poem about the building:
- “Where the Weser waves
- marry the open sea,
- there protrudes for traveling journeymen
- a sweet time in the heights.
- It is well founded
- his position in the depths of the sea.
- Tells the mate to drive safely
- the lighthouse on red sand. "
The lighthouse in the film
In Freymuth Schultz's 2008 film “ Sturmflut II ”, the two main actors spend their wedding night on the lighthouse after their marriage. In 2015, Radio Bremen produced the TV documentary “Roter Sand Lighthouse - Last Greetings from the Old World” (45 min.) By Britta Lübke in the series “Our History” (NDR).
Postage stamp "Red Sand"
On July 8, 2004, a 55-cent postage stamp with an image of the “Roter Sand” lighthouse appeared as part of the “Lighthouses” series of special postage stamps.
See also
- List of European lighthouses
- Brinkamahof lighthouse , called "small red sand"
literature
- Wolfgang Heumer: symbolic figure on the open sea . In: Deutsche Seeschifffahrt , Issue 12/2010, pp. 54–55, Storck-Verlag, Hamburg 2010, ISSN 0948-9002
- Walter Körte : The Rothesand lighthouse in the Weser estuary . In: Centralblatt der Bauverwaltung , 6th year 1886, urn : nbn: de: kobv: 109-opus-21479 , pp. 1–2 (1st part), urn : nbn: de: kobv: 109-opus-21482 , Pp. 13–15 (2nd part), urn : nbn: de: kobv: 109-opus-21497 , pp. 20–21 (3rd part) (with nine illustrations and cross -sectional drawings )
- Wolfgang Neß , Christine Onnen, Dirk J. Peters: The red sand lighthouse . Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-941867-06-2 .
- Rolf Seedorf, Paul Fäthke: Saved! Red sand lighthouse . DSV, Hamburg 1989, ISBN 3-88412-116-2 .
- Siegfried Stölting: Roter Sand lighthouse 1885–1985 . Worpsweder Verlag, 1985, ISBN 3-922516-44-0 .
- Siegfried Stölting: Roter Sand lighthouse . Worpsweder Verlag, 1987, ISBN 978-3-922516-44-6 .
- Siegfried Stölting: Roter Sand lighthouse . Wirtschaftsverlag NW, Verlag für neue Wissenschaft GmbH, Bremerhaven 2005, ISBN 978-3-86509-334-9 .
- Friends of the Red Sand Lighthouse Rescue Association V. (Ed.): ... then the lighthouse vom Roten Sand sends the last greetings. 100 years of the Roter Sand lighthouse on old postcards . Bremerhaven 1987.
Web links
- Description of the lighthouse at the Bremerhaven Waterways and Shipping Office
- Friends of the Red Sand Lighthouse Rescue Association V.
- Malte Werning: Roter Sand lighthouse . In: Leuchttuerme.net . Retrieved September 6, 2009.
- Gottfried Kiesow : The old tower and the sea . Monuments online. Retrieved September 26, 2010.
- Roter Sand lighthouse: Bulwark in rough seas at ndr.de from August 7, 2020
Individual evidence
- ↑ Britta Lübke: Roter Sand lighthouse - last greeting from the old world . radio bremen. June 24, 2015. Accessed November 1, 2015.
- ↑ The lighthouse "Roter Sand". Wahrzeichen.ingenieurbaukunst.de, accessed on November 1, 2010 .
- ^ Uwe Liehr: Roter Sand lighthouse . liehr | Project. November 1, 2010. Retrieved November 1, 2010.
- ↑ Reinhard Scheiblich, Hans Helge Staack: Leuchttürme-Lexikon . Ellert & Richter Verlag, Hamburg 2004, ISBN 3-8319-0038-8 , p. 146 .
- ↑ List of lights, Part III A - North Sea, southern part, including Orkney and Shetland Islands; Updated to issue 19 NfS from May 10, 1985; P. 116; Approved for Wikipedia publication and made available by the library, Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH)
- ↑ Uwe Schnall: Lighthouses on German coasts. A picture journey . 4th edition. Ellert & Richter Verlag, Hamburg 1999, ISBN 3-89234-521-X , p. 41 .
- ↑ Uwe Schnall: Lighthouses on German coasts. A picture journey . 4th edition. Ellert & Richter Verlag, Hamburg 1999, ISBN 3-89234-521-X , p. 42 .
- ↑ Reinhard Scheiblich, Hans Helge Staack: Leuchttürme-Lexikon . Ellert & Richter Verlag, Hamburg 2004, ISBN 3-8319-0038-8 , p. 150 .
- ↑ Information brochure of the association “Rettet den Leuchtturm Roter Sand e. V. ", July 1995, p. 20.
- ^ Rolf Seedorf: Roter Sand lighthouse - renovation work . In: Leuchtfeuer , Issue No. 60, pp. 23–26, Klaus Kern (Ed.), Rüsselsheim 2011
- ↑ 2011 no guest trips to the Roter Sand lighthouse . German Foundation for Monument Protection. April 14, 2011. Retrieved October 6, 2012.
- ↑ Maritime monument refurbished · Search for a new feeder ship for the “Roter Sand” lighthouse in the North Sea . In: Daily port report of November 2, 2012, p. 16
- ↑ Day trips to the Roter Sand lighthouse ( Memento from November 19, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), accessed November 20, 2012
- ^ "LEV Taifun" on the beacon course . In: Daily port report from August 6, 2014, p. 13
- ↑ Trips with the "Lev Taifun" to the Roter Sand lighthouse . Retrieved July 23, 2017.
- ↑ Weser Kurier : Out for trips to the Roter Sand lighthouse , February 1, 2015
- ↑ Roter Sand lighthouse: A maritime landmark turns 130 years old ( Memento from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), October 30, 2015
- ↑ Uwe Schnall: Lighthouses on German coasts. A picture journey . 4th edition. Ellert & Richter Verlag, Hamburg 1999, ISBN 3-89234-521-X , p. 38 .
- ↑ Interview with Freymuth Schultz. Retrieved November 1, 2010 .
- ↑ NDR: Our story - lighthouse Roter Sand. Final greetings from the old world . Retrieved November 1, 2015.
