Pommern

Pommern

As I was attending my fast rescue course I managed to get a few cool snaps of the old Pommern still lying alongside in Mariehamn whilst the the chaps took turns mastering the waterjet propulsion.

Sadly I could not visit as she she was still closed for the public after the winter season. Indeed the weather was quite fresh when we motored out in the western harbor. Still on my bucket list for my next visit to Åland, hopefully in the summer season when not renewing my basic training certificates.

Wikipedia gives a short write up of her history that Pommern, formerly Mneme (1903–1908), is an iron-hulled sailing ship. It is a four-masted barque that was built in 1903 at the J. Reid & Co shipyard in Glasgow, Scotland.

Pommern (German for Pomerania) is one of the Flying P-Liners sailing ships of the German shipping company F. Laeisz. P-liners were e.g. Passat, Pamir or Peking although her sisterships were Octavia ex Loch Nevis, Schürbek and Colonial Empire. 

In 1921 the Pommern was handed over to Greece as war reparation. In 1922 the former P-liner was lying in Delfzijl (Netherlands) and in May 1923 she was sold to Åland (Finland) shipowner Gustaf Erikson, and was put on the Europe - Australia trade, to carry grain from the Spencer Gulf area in Australia to harbors in England or Ireland until the start of World War II.

On 2 March 1935, Pommern ran aground at Port Germein, South Australia, but she was refloated and returned to service.

After World War II, Pommern was donated to the town of Mariehamn as a museum ship. It is now a museum ship belonging to the Åland Maritime Museum and is anchored in western Mariehamn, Åland. 

Pommern is so-called "bald-headed barque": it does not have royals over her upper topgallant sails. The topsails and topgallant sails have been divided in two (upper and lower) to ease their handling.

Pommern has the reputation of being a "lucky ship". She survived both world wars unscathed, lost only four crew members at sea on her journeys, and won the Great Grain Races twice, 1930 and 1937. "Pommern" is thus one of the most popular landmarks of Åland, and is visited by thousands of visitors annually.

In 2019 Pommern was placed in a purpose-built dock facility that can be pumped dry for periodic maintenance of the ship's hull.

Pommern and swans

The Ålandmuseum and the Pommern website gives info with history and visiting hours. As per them she is the only sailing ship in the world with no modifications done to her over the years.

Pommern

Pommern

Pommern

Gangway was still up

Online I came across some pictures of Pommern that seem to circulate on the net by several people sharing the same pic:

Pommern off Point Lynas. Sea Breezes No. 118, Vol. XII. September, 1929. W. McGregor.

Ships wheel now...

Credit: Ben Natral (FB, Sailorbert group)

...Ships wheel then

Credit: Hannu Vartiainen (J A Mikkola)

Pommern in her drainable enclosure (for maintenance)

Credit: Ålands Sjöfart (FB)

The stern

Credit: Ålands Sjöfart (FB)

Pommern on sail

Credit: Ålands Sjöfart (FB)

Crew at the helm

Credit: Ålands Sjöfart (FB)

Pommern

Credit: Ålands Sjöfart (FB)

Pommern colorised by Frank Hellsten

Credit: The boating site (FB)

Four-masted barque Pommern at sea. Restoration and colorization by Frank Hellsten of Samuel J. Hoods image in the Australian National Maritime Museum archive. According to the museum caption, Hood took this picture in 1922. However, it is likely that the picture is from 1923 or later in the 1920s.

"The Pommern is the only four-masted merchant sailing ship in the world still in its original state. She is a typical cargo carrier, built 1903 in Scotland and bought by the Åland shipowner Gustaf Erikson in 1923. Pommern has carried timber from Scandinavia, saltpetre from Chile and grain from Australia. Her last commercial voyage was done in 1939 and since 1952 Pommern has been a museum ship. Today the ship is owned by the Town of Mariehamn, but is managed by the Åland Maritime Museum Trust."

(Credit: Åland Maritime Museum)

Pommern on the Humber.

My wife’s Grandfather has written "July 1934 sailed from Australia to Hull" 

Credit: Andrew Crocker (FB)

On the voyage with a cargo of wheat from Port Victoria to Falmouth. Malamok 1980, AICH.

Credit: J A Mikkola

The webpages of J A Mikkola documents her history quite extensively and below is a translation from Finnish:

The four-masted barque was built for the shipping company B. Wencke & Söhne in Hamburg. Her  maiden voyage was made from Port Talbot to Caleta Buena in Chile from 29.2. to 25.6.1903. Return voyage was sailed with a cargo of saltpeter to Rotterdam from 26.8. to 2.12.1903.

Ownership of the ship was transferred to the Hamburg shipping company Reederei F. Laeisz in November 1906, when the ship was renamed Pommern.

On the way from Iquique to Hamburg, the ship collided with the English frigate Engelhorn about 8 miles northwest of Heligoland on 26.1.1911. The collision damaged the stern and rigging. The ship was towed by the tug Terschelling to Cuxhaven and later to Hamburg.

On the way from Mejillones, Chile to Hamburg, the ship encountered a severe storm in the Atlantic. In the storm, the second mate and a sailor were washed overboard and drowned on 30 January 1914 at lat. = 44°27’N, long. = 30°32’W.

The four-masted barque lay in Valparaiso during World War I. After the war, the ship sailed from Pisagua to Delfzijl with a cargo of saltpeter. There, she had to be handed over to the Greek state as war reparations in 1921. The ship lay idle in Delfzijl. Gustaf Erikson bought it for Åland for 3750 pounds in May 1923.

The first long-distance voyage was made after docking in ballast from Emden to Iquique, Chile, 7.7. - 30.10.1923. From there, a cargo of 3951 tons of saltpeter was brought via the Azores to Bruges, Belgium, 5.1. - 25.4.1924.

While sailing from Newcastle, Australia, with a cargo of 3,293 tons of coal to Callao, Peru, a midshipman fell from the mizzenmast and died on 23 March 1926. The voyage was sailed from 18 March to 18 June 1926.

In 1929, the barque sailed from Oslo to Melbourne with a cargo of timber in 87 days (25 July to 20 October 1929).

The ship won the Grain Race in 1930. The voyage from Wallaroo to Falmouth took 104 days (6 February to 22 May 1930). The cargo was 48,767 sacks of wheat. On the same voyage, a carpenter was washed overboard and drowned in a tidal wave on March 16, 1930, during a hurricane at Cape Horn.

On the voyage from Port Victoria to Falmouth with a cargo of 3,944 tons of wheat, one apprentice was washed overboard and drowned in a tidal wave on May 9, 1931. The voyage was made from April 20 to August 3, 1931.

In 1932, a four-masted barque sailed from Copenhagen to Port Victoria in ballast in 75 days and 3 hours, arriving on December 23, 1932. During its one-day voyage, the ship sailed 330 miles, which makes an average speed of 13.75 knots.

In 1935 the ship sailed with a cargo of 3901 tons of wheat (47810 sacks) from Port Germein to Falmouth in 94 days (4.3. - 7.6.1935).

In 1936 the ship sailed with a cargo of 3901 tons of wheat (47771 sacks) from Port Lincoln to Falmouth in 94 days (7.2. - 11.5.1936). In the same year, on the way from Gothenburg to Port Victoria, the four-masted barque was caught in a hurricane in the Bay of Biscay. In the storm, the ship listed 40 degrees and huge waves washed the deck from bow to stern. One sailor was thrown from the large mast onto the deck and was injured.

The ship won the Grain Race for the second time together with Passat in 1937, when the voyage from Port Victoria to Falmouth was also made in 94 days (3.3. - 5.6.1937). The cargo was 3958 tons = 47829 sacks of wheat.

The ship brought the last cargo of wheat from Port Germein to Falmouth from 20.3. - 15.7.1939. From there it continued on 18.7. to Hull, where the cargo of 46941 sacks of wheat was unloaded. After unloading it sailed with a ballast of 850 tons to Mariehamn.

Between 1928 and 1939, Pommern transported 43,268 tons of wheat from Australia to Europe on 11 voyages. The average wheat cargo was 48,000 sacks per voyage.

In July 1944, the ship was towed to Stockholm, where it served as a grain warehouse. In December 1944, the steamship Tervsund, captained by Otto Fagerström, towed the four-masted barque to Turku, where the cargo was discharged.

Since 1953, the four-masted barque has been a museum ship in Mariehamn. The heirs of Gustaf Erikson donated the ship to the city of Mariehamn.

Specifications:

Four-masted steel barque

Call sign: TPMW/OHQW

Builder: John Reid & Co., Glasgow 1902 - 1903, Scotland

Launched: Whiteinch, 31.01.1903

Tonnage: 2376.16 GT, 2113.80 NT

Drawn capacity: 4050 dwt, timber cargo 1057 standard, wheat cargo 4000 tons = 48972 sacks,

saltpeter cargo 4030 tons, coal cargo 3923 tons, cement cargo 21870 barrels

Deadweight: 1400 tons

Dimensions: 94.67/89.18 x 13.21 x 7.47 m (draught at full load 6.20 m)

Height of mainmast from deck: 46.3 meters

Sail area: 3240 m² (28 sails)

Crew: 1+3+18

Owners:

Gustaf Erikson (1872-1947), Mariehamn 28.05.1923 - 1936

Rederi Ab Pommern (Erikson), Mariehamn 1936 - 22.01.1953

City of Mariehamn 22.01.1953 -

Captains:

Johannes Walfrid Gustafsson (1860-1945)    1923 - 1924 June

Edvard Konstantin Johnsson (1881-1950)     1924 June - 10.06.1927

Carl Valfrid Granith (1895-1939)                  10.06.1927 - 1933

Karl Torsten Broman (1904-1977)                 1933 September - 1939, 15.11.1944 - 14.12.1944

There are several documentaries made of Pommern, I've kept the Finnish title in case some readers want to look them up:

The last of their tribe "Heimonsa viimeiset" (dokumentti vuodelta 1961, Yleisradion arkisto)

The fourmasted barque Pommern "Fyrmastade barken Pommern" (dokumentti vuodelta 1964, Yleisradion arkisto)

At sea again "Till sjöss igen" (dokumentti vuodelta 1997, Yleisradion arkisto).

Pommern "Pommern" (dokumentti vuodelta 2004, Yleisradion arkisto).

Pommern - hundred years with a cargoship "Pommern - hundra år med en fraktseglare", Per-Ove Högnäs ja Jonas Tuominen 2004