SS Deutschland (1866)

Coordinates: 51°40′00″N 01°37′00″E / 51.66667°N 1.61667°E / 51.66667; 1.61667
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
History
/ Hamburg / Germany
NameDeutschland
OperatorNorddeutscher Lloyd
Port of registryHamburg
BuilderCaird & Company, Greenock, Scotland
Launched29 May 1866
FateWrecked, 6 December 1875,
Kentish Knock
General characteristics
TypePassenger cargo vessel
Tonnage2,800 gross register tons (GRT)
Displacement2,278 tons
Length325 ft (99 m)
Beam40 ft (12 m)
PropulsionSteam, single propeller
Speed11 kn (20 km/h)
Crew90

Deutschland was an iron passenger steamship of the Norddeutscher Lloyd line, built by Caird & Company of Greenock, Scotland in 1866.

History

Deutschland was built as an emigrant passenger ship. She entered service on 7 October 1866 and arrived at New York on her maiden voyage on 28 October.[1][2] On 8 August 1869, she collided with and sank the British schooner Mary Bottwood off Hastings, Sussex, United Kingdom, killing three of her four crew and rescuing the survivor.[3]

Loss

The wreck of the Deutschland

The Deutschland sailed from

lightvessel, and out of sight from shore.[4][5]
At the time she was 30 mi (48 km) from where Captain Brickenstein estimated she was.

Shortly before grounding, an attempt was made to go astern but this failed when the stress fractured the ship's propeller.[4][5] Driven onto the sandbank, the vessel began to take on water and as the tide rose she failed to lift off the shoal as had been expected. When the sea began to break over her, and the wind rose to gale force, the order was given to abandon ship, causing some panic.[5] One boat was launched, but was swamped, while a second boat, with the quartermaster, a sailor and a passenger aboard, went adrift and eventually reached shore on the Isle of Sheppey the next day with only the quartermaster left alive.[5] The remaining boats were later washed away or destroyed by the stormy seas.[5]

tug Liverpool was dispatched at daylight on 7 December, reaching the Deutschland via the sequence of light vessels, and embarked all 173 still alive on the wreck.[4]

Aftermath

Soon after the news of the disaster had broken, the wreck was raided by men from the nearby coastal towns, particularly Harwich and

Illustrated London News produced an illustration of the scene which depicted the wreckers as resembling a flock of vultures. The Times
also described the scene, saying that corpses had been ransacked, and their jewellery stolen.

While there were some far-fetched suggestions that the Deutschland had been deliberately wrecked, there were well-founded allegations of deliberate delay in coming to the ship's assistance, as well as some of negligence. The Times published a leader which said that the Deutschland's grounding had been known for 15 hours of the 30 hours it took for the tug Liverpool to come to her aid, and Captain Carrington, her master, was criticized for his slowness in acting.

The

QC, who had been briefed by the German government, stated that it was surprising that "a large steamer with upwards of 200 persons aboard should have lain on a dangerous sand close to the English coast for thirty hours before any assistance came to her".[6]

The enquiry eventually exonerated everyone of any blame except Captain Brickenstein, who, it was decided, had "let his vessel get ahead in its reckoning" and "shown a very great want of care and judgement". Brickenstein asked the German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck for an official German investigation, but this was ruled out.

A

maritime archeologist Andreas Stolpe in 2005 suggest that it is that of the Deutschland.[7]

Legacy

Grave in St Patrick's Roman Catholic Cemetery of four of the nuns drowned in the wreck of the Deutschland

Among the victims of the shipwreck were five

Jesuit poet Gerard Manley Hopkins to compose the poem The Wreck of the Deutschland. Four of the five Sisters were buried in St. Patrick's Cemetery in Leytonstone, London, (a fifth whose body was never found is recorded on the memorial) and their deaths are commemorated every year in a memorial service held on 6 December in Wheaton, Illinois, by the Franciscan Sisters of their religious congregation now headquartered there.[8]

See also

  • List of shipwrecks
  • List of United Kingdom disasters by death toll

Citations

  1. ISBN 9783954273300. Retrieved 9 February 2016. {{cite book}}: |last1= has generic name (help
    )
  2. ^ "European News". New York Times. 29 October 1866. Retrieved 9 February 2016.
  3. ^ "Ship News". The Times. No. 26513. London. 11 August 1869. col F, p. 9.
  4. ^ a b c d Hocking, Charles (1969). Dictionary of Disasters at Sea, Vol 1. London: Lloyd's Register of Shipping. p. 186.
  5. ^ a b c d e "The Loss of the Deutschland". The Times. No. 28494. London. 9 December 1875. p. 6.
  6. ^ a b c "The Loss Of The Deutschland [Inquiry 1st day]". The Times. No. 28504. London. 21 December 1875. p. 8.
  7. ^ "Deutschland". Pastscape. Historic England.
  8. ^ "The Deutschland". Wheaton Franciscans.

References

  • Simpson, A.W. Brian (1996). Leading Cases in the Common Law. Oxford University Press. pp. 251–253.
    ISBN 0-19-826299-X
    .

External links

Works related to The Wreck of the Deutschland at Wikisource

51°40′00″N 01°37′00″E / 51.66667°N 1.61667°E / 51.66667; 1.61667

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