Pommern (ship)

This article is about the Finnish sailing ship. For the German battleship, see SMS Pommern.
Pommern at Mariehamn, Finland in 2005.
History
Name:
  • Mneme (1903-08)
  • Pommern (since 1908)
Owner:
  • F Laeisz
  • G Erikson
  • Municipality of Mariehamn
Builder: J Reid & Co
Launched: 1903
Status: Museum ship
General characteristics
Class and type: Windjammer
Tonnage:
Length: 95 m (312 ft)
Beam: 13 m (43 ft)
Draught: 7.5 m (24 ft 7 in)
Propulsion: Sails, 3,420 m2 (36,800 sq ft)
Sail plan: Barque
Complement: 26
The Pommern, anchored in the western of Mariehamn's two harbours, Västerhamn.

The Pommern, formerly the Mneme (1903–1908), is a windjammer. She is a four-masted barque that was built in 1903 in Glasgow, Scotland at the J. Reid & Co shipyard.

The Pommern (German for Pomerania) is one of the Flying P-Liners, the famous sailing ships of the German shipping company F. Laeisz. Later she was acquired by Gustaf Erikson of Mariehamn in the Finnish Åland archipelago, who used her to carry grain from the Spencer Gulf area in Australia to harbours in England or Ireland until the start of World War II.

On 25 November 1928, Pommern was completely dismasted in the English Channel. Her 79 crew were taken off by the German tug Heros. The British ocean liner Lancastria offered assistance but Pommern refused it.[1][2] Pommern was towed into Saint-Malo, Finistère, France, where she arrived on 30 November 1928. She was repaired and returned to service.

On 2 March 1925, Pommern ran aground at Port Germein, South Australia,[3] but she was refloated and returned to service.

After World War II, Pommern was donated to the town of Mariehamn as a museum ship. She is now a museum ship belonging to the Åland Maritime Museum and is anchored in western Mariehamn, Åland. A collection of photographs taken by Ordinary Seaman Peter Karney in 1933 showing dramatic pictures of life on a sailing ship rounding Cape Horn can be found in the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich.

A 1:35-scale model of Pommern hangs in Grundtvigs Kirke, in Copenhagen, Denmark, though on being donated to the church in 1939, the model was renamed Dronning Alexandrine in honour of Denmark's then- queen consort.[4]

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. She is one of the most popular landmarks of Åland, and is visited by thousands of visitors annually.

Four other Clyde-built tall ships are still afloat:

Technical details

See also

References in Literature

The children in Arthur Ransome's We Didn't Mean To Go To Sea encounter the Pommern as they return to Harwich. The Pommern had unloaded its cargo of Australian grain and was being towed out before setting sail back to Mariehamn in the Baltic.

Further reading

References

  1. ↑ "Casualty reports". The Times (450). London. November 1928.
  2. ↑ "Shipping casualty reports". The Times (45060). London. 26 November 1928. col F, p. 13.
  3. ↑ "Casualty Reports". The Times (47003). London. 4 March 1935. col A, p. 26.
  4. ↑ Grundtvigs Kirke [Grundtvig's Church] (in Danish), København, DK

Media related to Pommern at Wikimedia Commons

Coordinates: 60°05′50″N 019°55′31″E / 60.09722°N 19.92528°E / 60.09722; 19.92528

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