Texas (ship, 1852)

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The Texas was an Oldenburg barque that failed in a typhoon off the Chinese coast in 1857 . Shortly thereafter, their occupation was pillaged by the Chinese coastal population. The affair led to diplomatic entanglements between the Grand Duchy, the Kingdom of Prussia and the United Kingdom , as the Grand Ducal government insisted on the protection of Oldenburg shipping guaranteed by Prussia in the Jade Treaty .

Technical specifications

Use and loss

The Texas was built for 9,475 thalers gold for a partner shipping company made up of Edo Lorenz Diekmann from Warfleth (2/8 stake), Hermann Albers from Fikersholt (4/8), Pastor Ibbeken from Westerstede (1/8) and Gerhard Glüsing from Bardenfleth (1/8) existed. The first captain was a D. Rabe.

Nothing is known about the use of the ship. Presumably the Texas was used like most of the larger Oldenburg ships in the North America , West India and South America voyages as well as in East Asia . Their name also speaks for the North American voyage, as the ships were often named after the ports of destination that they regularly call at. The Grand Duchy also had diplomatic relations with the Republic of Texas ; the consulate was in Galveston .

In 1856 the owners had changed. The owners were now a Deye and Captain Johann F. Hegemann "and Consorten" "in Westerstede; Hegemann was also the captain of the Texas . On September 4, 1857, the barque got into a typhoon off the Chinese coast on the way from Ningbo to Amoy all three masts, the dinghies and a leak. She had been sighted by the Siamese Bangkok Mark , but in view of the weather it was impossible to take over the crew of the drifting wreck . On September 6th, the crew of an unnamed Chinese junk salvaged, but completely plundered by the Chinese occupation. Hegemann was only allowed the sextant keep his watch and the ship's papers. in the meantime was the wreck of Texas of the Thai ship Favorite near Fuzhou encountered. the captain took even from the captain's cabin , the The fate of the wreck is unknown.

The junk with the Texas crew it had taken over also got caught in a typhoon on the way to Amoy, ran onto a reef and sank. Both the crew of the junk and the sailors of the barque were attacked by the local coastal population who committed beach robberies. On the bank, however, the castaways found some Lorchas from Macau who took care of the victims and transported them to Amoy.

Diplomatic aftermath

Hegemann first reported the looting of the crew to the British consul in Amoy, which apparently had no concrete consequences. However, the just appointed Oldenburg consul for Shanghai , Brodersen, assured the captain of his support. In personal union Brodersen was also consul of the Kingdom of Hanover . However, shortly before the Texas disaster, Brodersen had moved to Hong Kong , which made the long communication with Europe even more difficult. The mail route from East Asia to Northern Europe took a good eight weeks.

The Texas affair now became the test case for the Jade Treaty concluded in 1853 between the Kingdom of Prussia and the Grand Duchy of the cession of Oldenburg territory for the construction of the city of Wilhelmshaven . In the treaty, Prussia had assured the protection of Oldenburg shipping. The Oldenburg state government therefore turned to the Prussian government through its envoy in Berlin with a request for help in enforcing its demands on the Chinese government.

Since the Royal Prussian Navy did not have any foreign stations at that time , the Prussian government turned to the British government through its envoy in London. However, this also saw itself unable to enforce demands with military means. It may also have contributed to the fact that there was a certain dissatisfaction with the Grand Duchy in London, which resulted from Bentinck's dispute over the succession .

The negotiations in China were conducted by the Prussian consul Richard von Carlowitz , who was also to become consul of Oldenburg in 1859, in Canton (at least in Guangdong ). Carlowitz stated that the attack on the junks crew was not aimed at the Oldenburgers and that such incidents were the order of the day. Both the Chinese themselves and foreigners on the Chinese coast are aware of this risk. The Chinese government cannot be held responsible under any circumstances. The use of British ships is also not without risk. If reprisals were taken against a robbery village, this could result in the murder of survivors in the future. Recently, a Dutch warship on the coast intervened in an investigation into the looting of a Dutch merchant ship, but did not punish the guilty villagers, only threatened to burn the village down if it recurred.

Ultimately, the efforts of the Prussian consul in China did not lead to any result. However, it had been shown that the protection of Oldenburg seafaring guaranteed by Prussia was pure theory. It is not known whether the injured parties received any kind of compensation.

A picture of the Texas has not survived, as the picture of the ship taken from Favorite was probably the only one of its kind and probably remained in Siam.

literature

  • Cord Eberspächer: The "Texas Case" and the Oldenburg Foreign Policy. The diplomatic consequences of shipwreck and plundering of the crew of the Oldenburg barque "Texas" in 1857 in the Chinese Sea , in: Oldenburger Landesverein für Geschichte, Natur- und Heimatkunde eV (ed.): Oldenburger Jahrbuch , 101, 2001, pp. 93-108 ( also published as a special print).
  • Peter-Michael Pawlik: From the Weser into the world. The history of the sailing ships of the Weser and Lesum and their shipyards 1770 to 1893 (writings of the Deutsches Schiffahrtsmuseum, Volume 13), Hamburg (Ernst Kabel Verlag) 1993. ISBN 3-8225-0256-1
  • Stefan Hartmann: Studies on Oldenburg shipping in the middle of the 19th century , in: Hansische Geschichtsblätter , 94th year, 1976, pp. 38–80.