Adventurer ANNY VON HAMBURG or the long struggle of two captains to preserve a ship's beauty
By Dr. Peer Schmidt-Walther - June 17, 2023
Berlin, Germany (MaDeRe). Whoever saw her fell in love with her: the ANNY VON HAMBURG. That was the case over 117 years ago - and people still succumb to her elegant magic today. As her impressive biography shows.
She was built in 1914 at the renowned C. Lühring shipyard in Hammelwarden on the Lower Weser. Seven more sister ships followed.
The steel cargo sailing ship's first big voyage went to St. Petersburg and ended there. When the First World War broke out, ANNY was confiscated by Russia and served as a barge for the Tsar's naval cadets.
It was not until 1925 that she returned to Germany as a barge hulk and was converted back into a cargo ship by Ernst Harms at the Wilhelmsburg shipyard and renamed HANNA.
After the war, the schooner changed hands several times and was eventually converted into a motor ship.
The ship received a smaller rigging and a two-stroke engine from the Hanseatic Works in Bergedorf with 120 hp. In 1936, the Glückstadt shipowner Max Both acquired the motor schooner and renamed it KURT BOTH. Its home port remained Hamburg and it was then used for tramping to Scandinavia.
Coaster for sand and gravel transport
In 1940, the three-master was converted into a one-and-a-half mast with a new, 150 hp four-stroke engine from the Deutsche Works in Kiel. During the Second World War, the sailing ship transported cement from Bremen to Heligoland, as the North Sea island was being converted into a fortress.
In 1950, the KURT BOTH was extended by eight meters at the Fritz Frank shipyard in Hamburg-Wilhelmsburg. After the bowsprit was removed in 1952 at Hugo Peters in Wewelsfleth/ Stör, the schooner was finally converted into a motor ship. After almost 32 years, the ship was deleted from the Hamburg ship register in 1957. It was sold for 230,000 DM to Oscar Abrahamsson & Sons in Sweden, for whom it sailed as RINGÖ. In 1963, the Finn Paul Grönquist bought it, who then operated it for another 16 years as a coaster for sand and gravel transport on the Finnish coast between Helsinki and Porvoo.
In 1980, Jörn Deistler, managing director of Germania Schiffahrt, Hamburg, discovered the ship in the port of Karlskrona. The former gaff schooner was partially burnt out and looked completely different. Based on old construction plans from the Lühring shipyard, a faithful restoration was attempted. But first it was reflagged: to England (1985) and Antigua (1989) and then in the summer as a cruiser through the Aegean and Mediterranean and in the winter around the Canary Islands and the Caribbean. She was always there for the Kiel Week and Hanse Sail as a Sail Training Ship (STS).
Raving despite scrap and rust
In 1997-98 she was finally overhauled in Wilhelmshaven and from then on sailed for the Thien & Heyenga company until 2004 under the Portuguese flag with Madeira as her home port. From then on the Hanse-Koggewerft e.V. association took over the helm. And thus appeared again in the Hamburg ship register.
The ship then bobbed around in Leer's leisure harbor for around eight years after shipowner Hermann Buss tried to move her to Leer (East Frisia) in 2007.
In September 2018, the 119-year-old three-masted schooner was taken over by the entrepreneur and billionaire Hans Georg Näder. He wanted to have it repaired again and then run by the shipping company project Timbercoast, which he supports and which is committed to transporting cargo in a climate-friendly way using sailing ships. The cargo sailing ship AVONTUUR is currently the shipping company's only ship. He now wanted to use the ANNY as a cargo sailing ship again. To do this, the ship's hull had to be examined very closely. However, an initial ultrasound examination of the ship's hull revealed that the ANNY was in very poor condition, apart from the rigging, which urgently needed an overhaul. The foremast was just scrap and everything under the teak deck was rusting away.
A thorough renovation would have cost between two and three million euros, according to conservative estimates. Like all previous owners, they wanted to save the gem from decay. Every sailor can rave about it. The interior and salon alone were simply magnificent, if you look at old photos. It would have been a shame to convert it back into a freighter.
Perhaps the former cargo sailing ship could still become a passenger ship under sail? In view of the avalanche of costs, however, everyone involved gave up. We know this from the barque GORCH FOCK II, whose cost estimates rose immeasurably.
Two friends and their dream ship
But rescue was at hand once again. Until then, ANNY had been lying in Hamburg-Finkenwerder for months. And once again it was Finns who had fallen for the sailing beauty: the captains Jan Rautawaara and Juha Pokka. The purchase price was kept secret: "First of all, all reserves are gone," is all we know.
After the daunting history, now two crazy people? Jan laughs: "Not at all, because we have a clear economic concept." The two sailors, who are friends, have known each other for 30 years and are also the owners of the 53-year-old coastal motor vessel JEANNY, which is used in the grain trade between Fehmarn, Rostock and Hamburg and is currently being overhauled at a shipyard in Harburg.
Neither of them are unrealistic dreamers, but dreaming businessmen. They bring decades of sea experience, craftsmanship and knowledge of old, small ships. "We do a lot of things ourselves," explains Jan, who usually stands on the bridge of a billionaire's yacht, but like his friend Juha has also captained all kinds of large and small ships: freighters, sailing ships or cruise ships. Until 2022, Jan was captain of the 20,000 GT expedition yacht CRYSTAL ENDEAVOR, the last ship of the Stralsund Volkswerft for the time being. But he was drawn back to the German North Sea coast - also for emotional reasons. He constantly had his "dream ship" in mind, which he had admired as a child in Finland. In 1997 he even served as captain on charter trips with guests along the North Sea coast.
Glamour of classic yachting
The last hour of rescue has struck for the two ship lovers since the purchase. Their motto: "Sailing is not just a destination, but also a journey".
In February 2023, they will move the sailing ship "with great potential" under their own keel to the museum harbor in Wischhafen, "because it is cheaper than Hamburg," have some work carried out there, and then at the beginning of May set course for a shipyard in Mariehamn on the Aaland Islands, using Deutz-Diesel. "There, the ship's hull will be overhauled and the ship's class renewed. The home port will be Ekenäs/Tammisaari in southern Finland, where woodwork expert Juha will also put up the three 24-meter-high masts made of Finnish pine. "From there, Helsinki and Mariehamn, day charter trips with up to 30 guests through the archipelago waters will initially be undertaken from 2024, with only ten guests allowed for overnight stays," says Jan, revealing the first step into passenger travel. Their goal is ultimately to create "a SEA CLOUD en miniature as an expedition sailing ship with a unique private yacht atmosphere and high-class service." However, Jan would also like to “have command of the big, old ship for a day”. Other sailing areas for the “slightly different sailing ship” are to be Norway, Spitsbergen, the Caribbean and the Mediterranean – “emission-free, of course”, as Jan Rautawaara emphasises, “we want our guests to experience the timeless glamour of classic yachting”.
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