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Five-masted Cape Horner.
The second ship of the name built for Reederei F. Laeisz, Preussen (Prussia) was one of only four five-masted square-riggers, the only five-masted ship, and
the largest ship without auxiliary engines ever to sail. (The only bigger
square-riggers were the barks R. C. Rickmers and France.) Built for the nitrate
trade between Europe and Chile, the Pride of Germany's 5 masts and 30 yards
set 43 sails with a total area of 59,848 square feet. Although five-masted
vessels could carry more cargo than four-masted ones, the ship rig offered
little increase in speed over the bark, and because they required larger
crews, these ships were definitely more expensive to man. Notwithstanding
such relative economies, Preussen was a fast ship, especially under Captain
Boye R. Petersen, her master from 1902 to 1909. Preussen sailed from Europe
to Chile twelve times with average passages of sixty-five days; her thirteen
returns were completed in seventy-three days on average. In 1903, she was a
record fifty-five days from the English Channel to Iquique. Five years later,
under charter to Standard Oil Company, she sailed from New York to Yokohama via the Cape of Good Hope, and in one eleven-day period she reeled off 3,019
miles, an average speed of over eleven knots.
On November 7, 1910, outward bound to Chile under command of J. Heinrich H.
Nissen, Preussen rammed SS Brighton. The cross-channel steamer was making
seventeen knots in foggy conditions; Preussen was logging four knots. As Brighton turned to cross in front of Preussen, the ship's bowsprit sheered off one of the
steamer's two funnels and ripped a hole in the steamer's hull. With her bows
stove in, Preussen was taken in tow by the steam tug Alert. Eighteen miles
from Dover, Nissen tried to anchor in the lee of Dungeness, but the ship's
anchor chains parted in a squall and Nissen was forced to run for Dover. Standing into Dover escorted by three tugs—Alert, Albatross, and John
Bull—Preussen's top hamper created so much windage that the tow lines parted.
Setting sail in an effort to back out of the shallows, Preussen's bow snagged
on a reef in Crab Bay. All attempts to free the huge five-master failed, and
the ship ended her days where she lay. (Laeisz's first Preussen, a steel ship
of 1891, had been renamed Posen when this ship was built. Outward bound with
a cargo of gunpowder, she exploded and burned in the South Atlantic on
October 14, 1909.)
Reference: Rohrbach, et al., FL: A Century and a Quarter of Reederei F.
Laeisz.
Hull Length 29 inches.
1/150
SCALE
AER-4845
PRICE:
$ 65.00
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