Cybercaptain: Wilhelmine in history

Tuesday, August 10, 2021

Wilhelmine in history

Waalhafen 1970's, courtesy of Shipnostalgia by "optoon"

Wilhelmine was built in 1953 and sailed 30+ years under German flag in Europe. Obviously, before she was bought to Finland in the 80's, a lot of things had happened to the people that sailed her and to Wilhelmine herself.

Originally she was launched with a tdw of 440t and then extended in 1961 to 550tdw, which was her size until the end.

Courtesy of Wikipedia

As per marinevesseltraffic her specs were as follows:

Former name: Wilhelmine Oltmann (1988)
Ship type: General Cargo Ship
Service Status: Broken up
IMO no: 5389774
Built: 1953
Builder: Stader Schiffswerft Gmbh, NB 162
Gross tonnage (GT): 355
Summer deadweight (DW): 550t
Length: 51 m
Beam: 7 m

One interesting tidbit from her German era was that the Mate eventually married the daughter of Captain Theodor Oltmann. This is testimony to how close knit the life onboard was back then as a livelihood and lifestyle or perhaps the Mate played safe.

Still the offspring of the Oltmann's remember Wilhelmine as one comments on an article in LinkedIn:

On 27th June 1985 according to NY Times she collided with a west German submarine just off Kiel canal:

Courtesy of NYTimes

Courtesy of LATimes

Surprisingly the accommodation survived almost untouched but as time went by she lost her derricks, the winches for them, the original wooden lifeboat, the horn, the standard compass on the monkey island, her Deutz main engine and other loose bits and pieces as she changed owners.

Wilhelmine Oltmann in 1971 visiting Whitby

(credit: Neil1282 northeastmaritime.co.uk)

Wilhelmine Oltmann in 1981 on the Elbe

(credit: teesships northeastmaritime.co.uk)

Wilhelmine Oltmann in 1986 on the Elbe

(credit: teesships northeastmaritime.co.uk)

German tonnage cert

Chronological index:

# 280 Hangö, 1988.02.23 – 1988

# 623 Borgå, 1988.09.29 – 1992.11.

# 1848 Helsingfors, 1992.11.04 - 1993.11.01

# 10122 1993.11.01

Callsign OIWF

Data:

FH 1989-1990, GT/NT 371/232, length/ beam/draft 51,21 x 7,53 x 2,85, dwt: 520.

FH 1991-2012, GT/NT 355/128, length/beam/draft 45,57 x 7,5 x 2,85, dwt: 550.

Machinery: 1 x 6-cyl Klöckner-Humboldt-Deutz AG, Köln diesel, 184 kW.

1953.01.10 launched

1953.03.24 Cargo vessel Wilhelmine Oltmann delivered to Theodor Oltmann, Stade

1959 Taken delivery by Oltmann & Söhne Küstenschiffahrt, Stade. German carving & marking letter dated 15 April 1961 records Theodor Oltmann Sr, Theodor Oltmann Jr and Richard Oltmann, Stade as owners with a 1/3 share each.

1961 extended and deadweight increased from 460 tons to 550 tons

1964 home port changed to Leer.

1965 home port again Stade.

1967 Theodor and Richard Oltmann, Stade as registered Owners.

1987.09.30 Moa: Theodor & Richard Oltmann, Stade (with 1/2 shares each) sells the motor ship Wilhelmine Oltmann to Toini Grönqvist, Poju for DM 115.000. Renamed to Wilhelmine, registered 23 Feb 1988 with reg.no. 280 Hangö.

1988.07.27 sold to Alfons Widestam, Vålax, Borgå för 345.000 mk. Registered 29 Sep. 1988 with reg.no. 623 Borgå.

1992.11. Transferred to Helsingfors registry, reg.no. 1848. Home port still Borgå.

1993.11.01 The registrar records # 10122.

2000.04.14 the vessel taken over by Torvald Lundström Kb, Kimito.

The Finnish maritime authority also published statistics of the merchant marine but compared to above it seems the info came a bit in arrears.

The official Gov't merchant marine statistics

In 1989 Alfons Widestam was registered owner

In 2001 Torvald Lundström was registered owner

Below are pictures courtesy of Jan Rautawaara who took time to dig in his archives when he was a deckhand onboard in late 90's as well as he visited maritime museums in Wischhafen and sent pictures from there. They are all below in no particular order and I let the pictures speak for themselves.