Bird sand (sandbank)
Vogelsand is the name of two neighboring sandbanks in the Elbe estuary. The better known of these shoals is the Great Bird Sand, which lies north of the main channel of the Outer Elbe . Opposite it are the Kleine Vogelsand and the inhabited island of Neuwerk to the south of the Elbe fairway .
On the shoal originally secured with floating beacons ( lightships on positions Elbe 1 to Elbe 3 , at times also Elbe 4 ), the lighthouse Großer Vogelsand stood a little north of the former position of Elbe 2 from 1973 to 2008 , which was used in 1999 as a fire carrier and in 2004 as a fog sound Signal carrier has been taken out of service. The Cuxhaven Waterways and Shipping Office had it dismantled as a navigation beacon. First, on December 16, 2008 , a floating crane removed the tower head. After part of the remaining tower shaft had also been removed, a new, smaller beacon head was put on the following summer.
The particular danger that emanates from this shoal is, on the one hand, the weather conditions that often prevail there (storms and high seas ) and, on the other hand, the particularly fine sand, known as grinding sand , which holds stuck ships in place and contributes significantly to their breakthrough. There are several hundred known and unknown wrecks there . The most famous wreck is the freighter Ondo , which stranded there on December 6, 1961 and the remains of which can still be seen today. The freighter Fides ran aground there on January 20, 1962.
Also because of the dangers posed by the Großer Vogelsand, Cuxhaven is a particularly important station of the German Society for the Rescue of Shipwrecked People , which has always stationed a powerful rescue cruiser there - especially after the lightships have been abandoned . Since June 2017 it's Anneliese Kramer . Together with the Hermann Marwede , so far the only ship of the 46 m class, which has been stationed at the sea position in the German Bight off the island of Helgoland since July 2003 , it covers the area of the Outer Elbe and the southeastern North Sea.
Coordinates: 53 ° 59 ′ 48 ″ N , 8 ° 28 ′ 42 ″ E