Anny von Hamburg is a historic three-masted schooner, originally built in 1914 by Conrad Lühring at Hammelwarden yard in Germany.
Initially named "Anny," the vessel was designed as a cargo ship. Throughout her extensive history, she has undergone several name changes and transformations, reflecting her diverse roles from cargo schooner to cadet training ship to passenger sailing vessel.
Historical timeline
- 1914: Launched in Hammelwarden yard and registered in Brake, Germany as "Anny" to owner Dietrich Hasseldieck. On 1st voyage confiscated in Russia and registered in St. Petersburg during WWI as "Briz", then used for Russian naval cadet training (or housing?) ship;
- 1922: Registered in Leningrad, USSR as "Briz";
- 1925: Returned to Germany and renamed "Hanna" with Hamburg as registry, fitted with single propeller and 95hp engine, owner Capt W. Richter;
- 1936: Renamed "Kurt Both" and used during WWII for transporting cement to Helgoland;
- 1940: Fitted with a 150hp diesel engine;
- 1950: Hull extended 8m at Fritz Frank shipyard in Hamburg;
- 1952: Bowsprit removed at Hugo Peters yard in Wewelsfleth along river Stör;
- 1957: Sold to a Swedish company owned by Oscar Abrahamsson & Sons and renamed "Ringö" with registry in Edshultshall;
- 1963: Sold to Finnish company owned by Paul Grönqvist, registered in Borgå;
- 1979: Sold to Gunnar Stark in Sweden with registry in Karlskrona, fire onboard;
- 1980: Discovered partially burnt in Sweden, sold to Jörn Deistler who transferred Ringö to Glückstadt in 11th Sept. The hull was shortened by 8m at Brockmüller yard, engine changed to a 280 HP diesel. Restored rigging to its original 1914 design in Svendborg, Denmark by Michael Kiersgaard. Cargo hold was converted to 5 cabins with 10 person capacity. Renamed and registered as "Anny" in Hamburg;
- 1985: registered under British flag
- 1987: registered under Antigua Barbuda flag as "Anny von Hamburg";
- 1990: Sold to Herman Buss who refitted the vessel in Leer, Thien & Heyenga as managing owners;
- 1997: refit lasting until 1998, "Anny" sailing extensively Mediterranean, Caribbean and summers in Baltic sea. Registry was once again changed to Portuguese flag with Madeira on her stern;
- 2004: sold to Hanse-Koggewerft and re-registered back to German flag;
- 2007: moored in Leer;
- 2019: transferred from Leer to Elsfleth;
- 2021: drydocked at Peters werft in Elsfleth to be derigged, then laid up in Finkenwerder;
- 2023: sold to Jan Rautawaara and registered in Ekenäs, Finland. Transfer under own keel to Helsinki for a full refit at Viapori yard.
- 2024: Entered back into service in 2024 fully rigged and serviced with new masts.
Anny at Thissenkaj in Kiel, about to depart for Helsinki in 2023 (by J Rautawaara)
Principal dimensions
As per Charterworld her principal dimensions and particulars are as follows (and slightly corrected by the author):
ANNY VON HAMBURG
Ex: Anny; Briz; Hanna; Kurt Both; Ringö; Anny av Karlskrona
Built By: Conrad Lühring
Built in: Hammelwarden, Germany
Launched in: 1914
Refitted in: 1998/ 2023
Length overall: 29 metres/ 95 ft
Waterline length (LWL): 28.41m/ 93.2ft
LOD: 33m/ 108.3ft
Beam: 7m/ 23ft
Deepest draught: 2.38m/ 7.8ft.
Sail Area: 520 sq.m.
Naval Architecture: Conrad Lühring
GT: 226
NT: 132
Displacement: 242 tons
Hull/ Superstructure material: steel / steel and wood
Deck material: teak
Registry: Finland
Port of registry: Tammisaari/ Ekenäs
Class: Finnish flag rules
Max yacht charter guests: 10
Number of Crew Members: 5
Main engines Deutz-MWM
Total propulsion: 280 HP/ 206 kW
Cruise Speed: 8 knots
Top Speed: 9 knots
Fuel tanks: 8250 litres
Water: 10500 litres
Gensets: Perkins 2 x25 kW
Yacht Type: triple masted schooner, gaff rigged.
Below are some translated sources I found online, namely the German language Wikipedia article and various other writings. They give a bit more clarity (or at times, confusion) and insight of the individual turns in "Anny's" history.
Also check out an older post about "Anny" that is a translation of an article from Finnish seamen's mission written by Jan Rautawara himself telling about "Anny's" history and how he acquired her.
Anny in media
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Editor comment: The German Wikipedia page documents the below as the vessels history but updates ends in 2018 with Mr Näder's involvement. There is also the Danish ship database listing her chronological details (but they're seemingly inaccurate in the end) and also the German tallship fan and other articles on the net, which I've used:
Anny under full sail off Miami, Florida in 1983
(photo courtesy by Bent Weber, BU: Peer Schmidt-Walther)
The ship was built in 1914 as Anny at the Conrad Lühring shipyard in Hammelwarden on the Lower Weser together with seven sister ships as cargo sailing ships made of iron. The 28-meter-long and 6.95-meter-wide vessels were rigged as pure gaff schooners, i.e. without yards. However, a broad jib can be used on a loose yard on the foremast. The sails consist of three large gaff sails, the corresponding gaff topsails, four headsails, namely staysail, jib, outer jib and jib, as well as a flyer between the foremast and mainmast, resulting in a sail area of around 520 square meters. The masts are made of natural wood.
Anny von Hamburg in new rigging, summer 2024 (courtesy J Pokka)
The "Anny" was delivered to Dietrich Hasseldieck from Nordenham in 1914. Her first voyage was to Kronstadt in Saint Petersburg. There, the cargo sailing ship was confiscated following the outbreak of the First World War and was moored in a harbor at the Lake Ladoga for the next few years as an accommodation barge for cadets. In 1925, she was returned to Germany as a hulk and rebuilt as a cargo ship at Ernst Harms' shipyard in Hamburg-Wilhelmsburg for the Hamburg owner Walter Richter, with the new name "Hanna". 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", but its home port remained Hamburg.
As "Hanna" at E Harms yard after return from Russia in 1925
(courtesy of "Deutsche schoner", vol. VII)
During the Second World War, it sailed between Bremen and Heligoland to transport cement for the fortification of the island; later it went on a tramp voyage to Scandinavia. 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. In 1950, the Kurt Both was extended by eight meters at the Fritz Frank shipyard in Hamburg-Wilhelmsburg.
As Kurt Both in 1952, courtesy of Sjohistoriska museet
After the bowsprit was removed in 1952 at Hugo Peters in Wevelsfleth, the schooner finally became 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 Edshultshall, Sweden, for whom it sailed as "Ringö". In 1963, it was purchased by the Finn Paul Grönqvist, who operated it as a coaster in the Finnish sand trade for another 16 years.
As Ringö, courtesy of Sjohistoriska museet
In 1980, Jörn Deistler, managing director of Germania Schiffahrt, Hamburg, discovered the ship as Ringö in the port of Karlskrona. The former gaff-rigged schooner had been partially burned out and had completely changed its appearance. A faithful restoration was attempted based on old construction plans from the Lühring shipyard. After a transfer voyage under its own keel, the ship was re-entered as "Anny" in the ship register of its old home port of Hamburg (call sign DANY).
Under the supervision of Germanischer Lloyd, the hull was shortened to its original size at the Brockmüller shipyard in Glückstadt and restored to its original shape. The rigging was built and rigged by Michael Kiersgaard in Svendborg in Denmark according to available old plans. The interior of the ship was thoroughly overhauled. A new 280 hp Deutz main engine was installed as a calm pusher and two 50 hp Perkins auxiliary diesels for the power supply. Radar, satellite navigation, depth sounder and other modern navigation equipment were installed for safe navigation. In the former cargo hold, a representative saloon, five double cabins with their own bathroom and toilet and spacious crew quarters were installed at the Asmus shipyard in Glückstadt in the style of the period but with modern comforts.
In the 1990s, the shipowner Hermann Buss brought the ship to Leer (East Frisia) and had it overhauled. At the end of 2018, the entrepreneur Hans Georg Näder took over the ship to have it repaired again and then used as a cargo sailing ship through the shipping company project Timbercoast.
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Editors comment
In 1994 the Swedish maritime magazine called the "Bilgepump" (Länspumpen) Mr Bengt Sjöström has written the following insert about Anny (p.26) when she was sold to Sweden in 1979:
"In March 1980 the sailing was done under Finnish ownership. She was sold to the entrepreneur Gunnar Stark in Karlskrona (compared to m/v Wallerö). Unfortunately she was burned down in Karlskrona the same month (having been in the process to outfit her for trading off African continent). The damage was so extensive that the ship was condemned as total loss. However, the ship, which under the Swedish flag was named "Ringö av Karlskrona" to satisfy the bureaucrats, was sold to be demolished, as early as September 1980 in her existing condition with a ban on the use in West Germany. (According to Jan Rautawaara she was spotted by an old ship connoisseur as the ex "Anny" and then subsequently brokered to a German shipowner who was enthusiastic in restoring her to the original Lühring design). She departed Karlskrona on September 11 for Kiel....1987 named "Anny von Hamburg" flying the British ensign... 1991 flying Antigua Barbuda flag... "
Ringö off Helsinki in 1972 by Bengt Sjöström
Then to continue the narrative of Wikipedia the German newspaper NWZ online wrote the below about Anny in March 2019, it appears the vessel was surveyed and hull found in poor condition, the masts and rigging were rotting away in storage. But it wasn't all bad news, a German millionaire H. Näder had taken a shine in Anny, maybe at the behest of Capt Brockermann (from Näder's other company or one he sponsored?) of "Timbercoast" looking for future financing and to enlarge the one ship fleet, but despite the best of intentions these plans never came into fruition.
In Youtube one can see when she was towed from Emden to Elsfleth shipyard in 09/2018 so something had been definitely planned to take place.
Screenshot from the Youtube video, 2018
Timbercoast has announced on their website festivities in 2019 involving Anny but I think it was perhaps left at more rum tasting than restoring and it seems "Anny" was after this year left in port and derigged to the state she was bought in 2023 (if the event even took place?).
In 2021 an enthusiast had clocked Anny at the Peters Werft in Wevelsfleth. I guess the refit didn't take place in the end. Looks like she was only derigged and masts removed.
Pictures courtesy of Karl Kautz in 21st Nov 2021 at Peters Werft
In 2022 an enthusiast posted pictures of Anny in her laid up state on a forum and commented "seen in the Steendiek Canal in Hamburg-Finkenwerder, where the "Anny von Hamburg" has been laid up for some time. Unfortunately, the announced plans to recondition her as a cargo sailing ship have not yet come to fruition."
Anny in Finkenwerder (by user name "Dieseljohnny" Hans)
As we all now know between the previous article and this one the narrative did not have any dramatic turns so in Jan 2021 the Hamburg morning post wrote the following about a German millionaire getting involved in the "Anny" restoration project and to add to the "Timbercoast" single ship fleet of Capt Bockermann but perhaps the money was not forthcoming or something else froze the project. The story continues.
So from 2019 there had been no developments and despite promising writing by the maritime press the narrative had come to a standstill, perhaps due to the hefty price tag of "Pink gin". Then in June 2023 the Magazin des Reises wrote about Anny and her new owners outlining the future for her to be restored and put into traffic as a cruising sailing vessel in Finland to start with.
Ship specs:
Type: schoonerRigging: gaff rigging
Masts: 3 (wood)
Sail area: 520 sqm
Shipyard: Conrad Lühring, Hammelwarden
Year built: 1914
Owner: Diedrich Hasseldieck, Nordenham
Christening name: Anny (1914-1925), then Hanna (1925-1936), Kurt Both (1936-1957, Swedish flag 1957-1963), Ringö (1963-1980, until 1979 as a motor keelboat under Finnish flag), trailer in Karlskrona, Anny von Hamburg (since 1980)
Sister ships: 7Hull: steel
Use: passenger yacht
Length (LOA): 38.0 m, width: 6.95 m, draft (max.): 2.65 m
Engine: Deutz, power: 280 hp (206 kW)
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