Floating Dar es Salaam (1900)

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The floating dock Dar es Salaam with the DOAL's Safari (1,433 GRT) ship (photo by Kurt von Schleinitz , taken between 1907 and 1914)

The Dar es Salaam floating dock was a submersible pontoon system for maintaining ships. It was the first ship dock in the port of Dar es Salaam and the East African coast from 1902 to 1914 . As a governorate floating dock , it belonged to the Treasury of the German East Africa colony . It was thus a fiscal ship and part of the protected area's flotilla. Shortly after the beginning of the First World War , the dock was sunk as a harbor barrier.

construction

Dar es Salaam floating dock dates
Parameter Value / description
Shipyard Howaldtswerke
building-costs 660,000 marks
completion 1900
Installation 1902
length 64.77 meters (213 feet )
width 22 meters (72 feet)
Clear width 17 meters (56 feet)
Max. Draft (docking) approx. 6 meters (20 feet)
Number of pontoons 4th
Length of a pontoon 15.24 meters (50 feet)
Max. Lifting force 1,800 tons
Whereabouts Sunk as a barrier in 1914

The dock was a two-sided steel pontoon floating dock. The floor was formed by four pontoons that could be dismantled for maintenance purposes. The pontoons were arranged with gaps of 1.27 meters. The two long side walls stood on the floor. A steam engine, pumps and air and water tanks were located in the dock. To accommodate a ship, the tanks were partially filled with water until the dock sank so far that a ship could enter between the two side walls of the dock. To lift the dock, the steam engine drove the pumps, which emptied the flooded tanks and the dock got buoyancy. The dock - including the ship inside - was lifted out of the water. The position of the ship was secured by supporting beams, which were located in the dock walls and fixed the hull at the sides. The lifting power coped with the small cruisers as well as medium-sized merchant ships and coastal vessels located at the East African naval station around 1900 . A protrusion of the bow and stern of the ship was possible within the limits of balance and resilience. During subsidence tests, the waterline was six meters above the base of the receiving ship. The lift took about an hour.

The dock would have had to be lengthened to lift ships over 100 meters in length. By adding three more pontoons and lengthening the side walls, the lifting force would have been increased to around 3000 tons. But that was only a plan and, as far as known, was not implemented.

business

View of the dock from one of the side walls; The chimney of the steam engine (right) and the lateral support beams (left) are clearly visible. Photo from 1907, during the visit of State Secretary Dernburg .

In the dock, the flotilla workshops of the governorate carried out maintenance on German and foreign ships. The employees were subordinate to the Imperial Government. In June 1903 three Europeans and fifty non-Europeans were employed as craftsmen in the workshops. The supervision of the operation lay with the nautical advisory board of the imperial governorate. In addition to cleaning and painting, the services offered also included repairs to the ship's hull. In addition, the workshops offered all types of wood and metal processing. The dock had a white anchor light and was marked by two shipping signs (buoys).

According to the tariff of June 30, 1904, the first 24 hours of lay time including docking and undocking cost 35 Heller per register ton up to and including 1,000 tons  and 32 Heller per register ton over 1,000 tons. The minimum fee was 170  rupees . For all the following 24 hours, 18 hellers, but at least 30 rupees, were charged per register ton. For ships that used the dock for more than 14 days, there was a discount of ten percent from this point on. Warships of all nations as well as government vehicles from non-German colonies also received a ten percent discount. Ships that used the dock repeatedly within a year received the same discount. A surcharge was charged for docking and undocking on Sundays and public holidays.

On April 1, 1913, the operation of the governorate flotilla including the floating dock was transferred to the East African Railway Company .

history

German floating dock Dar es Salaam underwater.jpg
The dock when it was salvaged in 1902
German floating dock Dar es Salaam afloat.jpg
The floatable dock in 1902


Berth of the floating dock in the port of Dar es Salaam around 1905 (in yellow)
First berth of the floating dock next to the customs bridge (customs quay) of Dar es Salaam
Second berth not far from the Kurasini bank (approx. 1913/14, operation of the dock by the East African Railway Company)

The floating dock was intended to make the Imperial German Navy more independent from the British docks in Bombay , Calcutta and Cape Town . In the debate on the budget of the dock construction in the Reichstag , the liberal MP Hermann Frese doubted whether the width of the dock - which he stated as 16 meters - would be sufficient to meet the requirements of the military and economic efficiency. The commissioner of the Federal Council, Corvette Captain Carl Paschen , replied in his assessment that the dock would meet all the requirements of the coming years in terms of its width. The budget position was then approved.

In the spring of 1900 the dock was built at the Howaldtswerft in Kiel and temporarily assembled on dry land. After the assessment by the commissioning colonial department of the Foreign Office , the individual parts were shipped to Dar es Salaam. The transport took place with the ship India , which had been rented by the Howaldtswerft and went to East Africa via the Suez Canal . On August 13, 1900 the India arrived in Dar es Salaam. The elements of the dock could only be brought ashore with barges with great difficulty due to the low discharge capacity of the port of Dar es Salaam .

After the dock was assembled, tests were carried out. In one of the tests, the dock sank to the bottom of the harbor a year after delivery on August 13, 1901. According to a report in the German-Ostafrican newspaper , the dock was in an average water depth of 15 meters. Only when the water was low did the upper end of the chimney and measuring rods protrude from the surface of the water. Apparently the dock had not been properly trimmed, so that it fell below the waterline completely and had to be lifted itself. In September 1902, the Foreign Office sent the government builder and later director of the Dortmund port , Georg Heinrich Schmidt (1868–1937), as acting representative to German East Africa for restoration and acceptance . On November 5, 1902, the dock was taken over as ready-to-use by a government commission. The government steamer Juba (780 tons, 60 meters long) from British East Africa was docked on November 25, 1902 as the first ship . In January 1904, the Deutsche Kolonialzeitung reported on the problem-free docking of the small cruiser SMS Sperber (approx. 1,200 tons, 67 meters in length).

The dock was appreciated internationally, especially by the British. The modern design was praised in contemporary publications. The dock was mentioned in the article on Dar es Salaam in the Encyclopædia Britannica of 1911. In German publications, however, the dock was considered too small and uneconomical. Since almost all lines in the region were still using larger ships during the construction phase of the dock, the dimensions precluded use by most civilian ships. In addition, a new dock in Durban has increased competition. The income is far from sufficient to generate interest on the investment capital. This corresponded to the criticism expressed in the Reichstag around 1900.

The berth of the dock initially was located next to the toll bridge right where Dar es Salaam. In 1911 it was moved to the south side of the harbor in front of the shipyard on the Kurasini bank together with the marker buoys. From December 1909 to March 1910 the dock underwent major repairs, with the boiler receiving a new firebox . In June 1912 the dock was taken out of service for several months for repairs.

The beginning of the First World War in East Africa marked the end of the Dar es Salaam floating dock. At the suggestion of Corvette Captain Gustav Zimmer, Governor Heinrich Schnee ordered the dock to be put aground to protect the city in the port entrance of Dar es Salaam. The sinking took place on the night of August 5th to 6th, 1914. In the confluence, which is only 250 meters wide and up to 20 meters deep in places, the dock was intended to make it much more difficult for ocean-going vessels to pass through. However, the sinking only partially succeeded, as the sunk dock only blocked one side of the entrance. Due to the obstacle, the port of Dar es Salaam could hardly be used militarily for the German side either. The British Navy accepted the white flag over Dar es Salaam on August 8, 1914 only on condition that the floating dock was not raised. Little is known about their whereabouts. According to a report by the Colonial Rundschau from 1922, the remains of the dock were still at the dump site in the fairway to Dar es Salaam after the end of the war. A much later report also mentions remains of the dock in the port entrance. In a photo from the early 1950s, the two side walls are still clearly visible.

memory

The floating dock in Dar es Salaam was part of a series of the cigarette picture service Dresden from 1936 as picture motif and picture collection No. 5. The original picture caption from the corresponding scrapbook reads:

“Floating dock in Daresalam. The floating dock established by the colonial administration in Daresalam made it possible to evacuate damaged ships. It was 64.8 m long and had a load capacity of 1,800 t. "

- Cigaretten-Bilderdienst Dresden : Scrapbook for the German Colonies series .

The above photo by Kurt von Schleinitz from 1907 to 1914 apparently served as a template for the picture.

literature

  • Without author: The new floating dock in Dar-es-salaam, in: Hansa - German Nautical Journal. Volume 37 (1900), No. 35 of September 1, 1900, p. 418 ( online at digishelf.de ).
  • Without author: German East Africa - Floating Dock at Dar-es-salam, in: The Board of Trade Journal. XLI. Vol. 331, April 2, 1903, p. 31 ( online at Google Books ).

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Gustav Adolf Fischer: Docks , in: Heinrich Schnee (Ed.): German Colonial Lexicon . I. Vol., Quelle & Meyer, Leipzig 1920, p. 470.
  2. ^ Gustav Adolf Fischer: Flottillen , in: Heinrich Schnee (Hrsg.): German Colonial Lexicon. I. vol., Quelle & Meyer, Leipzig 1920, p. 644 f.
  3. ^ A b Reinhard K. Lochner: Fight in the Rufiji Delta - The end of the small cruiser "Königsberg". The German Navy and Schutztruppe in East Africa during World War I. Heyne Verlag, Munich 1987, ISBN 3-453-02420-6 , p. 72.
  4. ↑ a b Without author: The new floating dock in Dar-es-salaam, in: Hansa - German Nautical Journal. 37th year (1900), p. 418 ( online at digishelf.de ).
  5. ↑ Without author: German East Africa - Floating Dock at Dar-es-salam, in: The Board of Trade Journal. XLI. Vol. 331, April 2, 1903, p. 31 ( online at Google Books ).
  6. ↑ Without author: East Africa. In: Deutsche Kolonialzeitung. 17th vol. (1900), Issue No. 15 of April 12, 1900, p. 157.
  7. ↑ a b Without author: floating dock in Dar-es-salaam. In: Deutsche Kolonialzeitung. Volume 19 (1902), Issue No. 52 of December 25, 1902, p. 528.
  8. ↑ Without author: Colored craftsmen. In: Deutsche Kolonialzeitung. Volume 20 (1903), Issue No. 50 of December 10, 1903, p. 509.
  9. ↑ Regulations regarding the use of the floating dock in Dar es Salaam from June 30, 1904, in: Imperial Gouvernement von Deutsch-Ostafrika (Ed.): The state legislation of the German-East African protected area. 2nd edition, Tanga / Daressalam 1911, p. 504 ff. ( Online at the University Library Frankfurt am Main ).
  10. ^ Heinrich Schnee: Port regulations for the port of Dar es Salaam. In: Imperial Gouvernement of German East Africa (Ed.): Official Gazette for German East Africa. Volume XIV (1913), Issue No. 50 of September 13, 1913, p. 131.
  11. ↑ Krauss: Shipping taxes, in: Heinrich Schnee (Hrsg.): Deutsches Kolonial-Lexikon. III. Vol., Quelle & Meyer, Leipzig 1920, pp. 278 ff.
  12. ↑ Fee tariff for the use of the floating dock in Dar es Salaam of June 30, 1904, in: Imperial Gouvernement von Deutsch-Ostafrika (Ed.): The state legislation of the German-East African protected area. 2nd edition, Tanga / Daressalam 1911, p. 509 f. ( online at the University Library in Frankfurt am Main ).
  13. ^ Wilhelm Methner : Announcement. In: Imperial Gouvernement of German East Africa (Ed.): Official Gazette for German East Africa. Volume XIV (1913), No. 15 of March 26, 1913, p. 46.
  14. ^ Negotiations of the Reichstag - floating dock in Dar-es-Salaam : Volume 166 (1898/1900), 53rd session of March 10, 1899, Berlin 1899, p. 1440C ff. ( Online at reichstagsprotocol.de ).
  15. ↑ Without author: The expansion of the ports of Dar-es-Salaam and Tanga. In: Deutsche Kolonialzeitung. Volume 18 (1901), Issue No. 33 of August 15, 1901, p. 322.
  16. ↑ Without author: German East Africa. In: Deutsche Kolonialzeitung. Volume 18 (1901), Issue No. 38 of September 19, 1901, p. 377.
  17. ↑ Without author: German East Africa. In: Deutsche Kolonialzeitung. Volume 18 (1901), Issue No. 39 of September 26, 1901, p. 385.
  18. ↑ Detlev Brum: Colonial traces in Dortmund - people. Dortmund postcolonial, accessed on June 13, 2019 .
  19. ↑ Unauthorized: floating dock in Dar-es-salaam. In: Deutsche Kolonialzeitung. Volume 20 (1903), Issue No. 2 of January 8, 1903, p. 19.
  20. ↑ Without author: East Africa. In: Deutsche Kolonialzeitung. Volume 21 (1903), Issue No. 2 of January 21, 1904, p. 21.
  21. ↑ Ulrike Lindner : Colonial Encounters - Germany and Great Britain as Imperial Powers in Africa 1880-1914. Campus Verlag, Frankfurt am Main / New York 2011, ISBN 978-3-59339-485-5 , p. 83.
  22. ↑ Article Dar-es-Salaam in the Encyclopædia Britannica (1911) on Wikisource .
  23. ↑ Deutscher Kolonial-Bund (Ed.): Statement by the German Colonial Federation on the memorandum on the development of the German protected areas 1902/03 and on the budget for the protected areas for 1904/05. Berlin 1904, p. 9.
  24. ^ Karl Most: The economic development of German East Africa 1885-1905. Wilhelm Süsserott, Berlin 1906, p. 20 f. ( online at archive.org ).
  25. ^ Wilhelm Methner: Announcement. In: Imperial Gouvernement of German East Africa (Ed.): Official Gazette for German East Africa. XII. Vol. (1911), No. 11 of March 4, 1911, p. 44.
  26. ^ Albrecht von Rechenberg : Announcement. In: Official Gazette for German East Africa - Supplement to the German East African newspaper . X. Jg. (1909), No. 39 of October 14, 1909, p. 109.
  27. ^ Wilhelm Methner: Announcement regarding the governorate floating dock. In: Official Gazette for German East Africa - Supplement to the German East African newspaper. XI. Vol. (1910), No. 13 of March 17, 1910, p. 1.
  28. ^ Wilhelm Methner: Announcement. In: Imperial Gouvernement of German East Africa (Ed.): Official Gazette for German East Africa. XIII. Vol. (1912), No. 26 of May 25, 1912, p. 91.
  29. ↑ James R. Brennan, Andrew Burton and Yusufu Lawi (eds.): Dar es Salaam - Histories from an Emerging African Metropolis. Mkuki na Nyota Publishers, Dar es Salaam 2007, ISBN 978-9987-449-70-5 , p. 29.
  30. ^ Brain Watson: Recollections: Richard Crow. 2008, accessed June 28, 2019 .
  31. ↑ Reinhard K. Lochner: Battle in the Rufiji Delta - The end of the small cruiser "Königsberg". The German Navy and Schutztruppe in East Africa during World War I. Heyne Verlag, Munich 1987, ISBN 3-453-02420-6 , p. 74.
  32. ↑ Colonial Review. Reimer, Berlin 1922, p. 13 f. ( Excerpts from Google Books ).
  33. ↑ Ports of Call and Places of Interest on the Voyage Round Africa with the Intermediates , The British & Commonwealth Register.
  34. ↑ Photo of the harbor entrance from 1951 , the remains of the floating dock can be seen at the bottom left of the picture.
  35. ↑ Collective picture of the series German Colonies - Picture No. 005: Floating dock in Dar es Salaam , object database of the German Historical Museum .
  36. ^ Scan of the page from the album German Colonies. Cigarette picture service, Dresden 1936 (with picture and lettering floating dock in Dar es Salaam ).

Web links

Commons : German drydocks in Dar es Salaam  - Collection of images, videos and audio files