Anny - the lost years

(credit: A.I. & Herge)

One day Mr Oleg Balandin came for a visit to Anny von Hamburg with his family and Captain Juha Pokka showed them around and treated them for food and wine and what he had at hand. At same time he told the family of the history of Anny, all the 100+ years of it, and mentioned the lost decade in Russia when she had been confiscated as prize of war in 1914. Little did Juha know that following the pleasant evening Oleg disembarked Anny with a mission in mind.

Inscription on the reverse: "Briz (ex Ania) — c. 1916, 

most likely the oldest picture of Anny in existence

(credit: Oleg Balandin)

Then last week he sent Juha a cryptic message that made no sense and he wondered what was coming and then shortly Oleg visited again and gave Juha a link to his personal blog where he had managed to locate in old records mentions of Anny a.k.a. Briz (Breeze) as historical documents had been digitized and opened for the public in 2026. He has now collated all telegrams and reports from navy to central gov't about subjects pertaining to Anny back in the day - "Russian State Naval Archive: the file of the Local Petrograd Liquidation Commission of the Baltic Sea."

The cryptic missive

Apparently to start with she was normally berthed at the St Petersburg Grebnoy port and the confiscation took place close by at the Commercial port (see below), the Navy then took her to be used her for their training purposes. Then it looks like nobody really knew who was in charge or who had the use of them. Interestingly the documented reports, telegrams and dialogues started only in 1918 when the Russian civil war raged on. The Bolsheviks led by Vladimir Lenin dissolved the elected government, the Romanov family was executed and WW1 ended, so she had by then been detained already for 4 years. The insurance had paid off the loss to the Owner, Dietrich Hasseldieck who then went on to build another vessel, Anni.

From left, Grebnoy port and St Petersburg commercial port

(credit: Google maps)

In 1918 the Czars sail training college was disbanded and in 1922, when USSR was established, Moscow started looking for the whereabouts of the schooners, probably as a resource for foreign funds. It is also obvious that with the red revolution the bureaucracy lived on and one can see from the missives that it was not clear who had possession of the schooners and the other blamed the other that they had not taken possession and so the merry-go-round went.

One of the Russian documents linking Anny to Briz

(credit: Oleg Balandin)

In 1922 it also appears she was already just a mere hulk, only after 8 years in 'service', a survey report states - "The "Briz" lies with her stern aground. Only the hull has survived, even the hatch covers have been taken off and are missing. There is no spar rig, sails or rigging whatsoever. The bowsprit has been sawn off with a saw. In her present condition there is absolutely no possibility of adapting her into any use, as had been planned". Herbert Karting writes in his book Deutsche Schoner "Here (St Petersburg) she is said to have been hit by artillery later, whereupon she was left in a desolate state, stripped of her rigging and masts", maybe that was why she was in such a sad state.

Anny as Briz ca 1916, cutout from the archive picture

(credit: Oleg Balandin)

She had 2 sisterships of the same fate, Passat (Nordstern) and Monsoon (Hermann), in the same fleet that did not survive and the Navy requested central Gov't for funding to refit and keep these vessels in service for themselves but that did not happen and then the plan was hatched in 1923 to sell these hulks and refit/ purchase a training vessel fit for purpose.

St Petersburg, Lake Ladoga and red dot for Svirstroy along the Svir river

(credit: google maps)

As her condition had deteriorated she was then used as a barge for a dredging project at the mouth of Svir and up to Svirstroy hydro power plant project, some 200km from St. Petersburg together with other ships. In one report it says she was surveyed at Svirstroy docks off Krestovsky spit. If she was indeed that far up the river it is about 100km along river Svir from lake Ladoga where the hydro power dam and lock is. Anyway, the communications die out, she was sold, and by 1925 the hull of Anny is back in the German Reich.

Svir river lower reaches

(credit: google maps)

Anny's bad shape was also documented, Herbert Karting writes in his book Deutsche Schoner, "He (W. Richter) also arranged for the transfer and had the ship, which looked more like a wreck, towed to Ernst Harms' shipyard in Harburg". When she was returned she ended up at Ernst Harms shipyard to be engined and refitted into a working coaster by shipowner J.H. Jensen and Captain W. Richter and the rest we know.

Mouth of Svir

(credit: Google maps)

It is quite amazing how this data could be unearthed from the archives with war and political strife going on in todays world. It is also a true that not everybody can be tarred with the same brush, politics aside, good people still exist everywhere and they don't believe everything they see in media. 

Without further ado, click on Mr Oleg's blog for the full monty of Anny's Russian years with the Soviets. Her history is now as complete as it probably can be thanks to the great effort and presentation by Oleg Balandin. 

Personally the only thing that would be also interesting is how the German crew got off the boat and what were the travails experienced before reaching home. It was the son of Dietrich Hasseldieck who was the Captain of Anny in 1914 and it looks like they were interned for some time in Russia. Maybe some day a diary is unearthed...