Herzogin Cecilie

A four-masted steel barque built in 1902 by Rickmers AG, Bremerhaven, for Norddeutscher Lloyd, Bremen, as a sail training ship. Her dimensions were 95'72×14,02×7,21 meters.
Lloyd's Register 1903: 314'1×46'0×23'8", 3242 GRT, 2786 NRT and under deck 2672 tons.
Lloyd's Register 1935: 344'8×46'3×24'2", 3111 GRT, 2584 NRT and under deck 2672 tons.

1902 April 22: Launched at the shipyard of Rickmers AG, Bremerhaven, for Norddeutscher Lloyd, Bremen, as a sail training ship. Assigned the German signal QHLK.
1902 June 25: Sailed on her maiden voyage from Bremerhaven for Astoria, OR, under command of Captain Max Dietrich. [Derby has June 27].
1902 August 22: Arrived at Monte Video with severe rig damage.
1902 October 9 — December 13: Sailed from Monte Video to Astoria in 66 days.
1908: Captain Otto Walther assumed command of the ship.
1913: Captain Dietrich Ballehr assumed command of the ship.
1914 July 25: Arrived to Herradura Bay north of Valparaiso after the outbreak of the First World War. After having discharged the cargo of coke she was interned.
1918 November 4: Taken over by the Chilean Navy.
1918 November 18: Towed to Coquimbo.
1920 August 12: Left Coquimbo for Caleta Coloso, Antofagasta, where she arrived on the 14th.
1920 October 1: Left Antofagasta with 3900 tons of nitrate for Europe.
1920 December 23: Signalled Falmouth after 82 days from Antofagasta and got orders for Ostend where she arrived on the 26th of December.
1920 December 31: Returned to Bremen after six years in Chile.
1921 June 20: Handed over to the French government as part of the German war reparations payment.
1921 November 21: Sold to Gustaf Erikson, Mariehamn, for £ 4250. Was registered in Mariehamn as No. 703 and was assigned the Finnish signal TPMK. The command of the ship was given to Captain Ruben de Cloux, Föglö, Åland, the wellknown master of the four-masted barque Lawhill.
1927 June 18: Stranded in thick fog off Vorupør, Hanstholm, Denmark. Was pulled off the next morning after having been relieved of the water ballast.
1931 June 2: Passed the Skagens Rev (Skaw Reef) Lightship at 17:00 and at 18:15 she had the Laesø Trindel Lightship abeam. The distance between the two lightships was 26 nautical miles which distance was covered in 75 minutes which gives an average speed of 20 ¾ knots. The maximum speed through the water recorded by the patent log was 19 ¾ knots.
1934 January 1: Was assigned the new signal OHAU.
1935: Sailed from Copenhagen to Port Lincoln in 83 days.
1936 January 27 — April 23: Sailed from Port Lincoln with 4295 tons of wheat for Falmouth in 86 days.
1936 April 23: Was arrested at the arrival to Falmouth because of the collision with the German trawler Rastede, but was released the following day against a bail of £ 2500. Orders were then received to proceed to Ipswich to discharge the cargo.
1936 April 25: Stranded in a fog at Bolt Head, Salcombe, South Devon.
1936 June 19: Re-floated after part of the charge had been discharged and was towed to Starhole Bay where she was beached.
1936 July 17: The keel was broken in the heavy ground-swell.

The cabin and the figurehead are preserved at the Ålands Sjöfartsmuseum.

Pictures: At sea [61 kB].

References:

Four- and five masted ships, general references
Bourne, Pamela: Out of the World. Sea-faring reminiscences.
Geoffrey Bles, London, 1935. 8vo, 288 pp, plates.
A voyage from Australia to England in 1934.
Derby, W.L.A.: The Tall Ships Pass. The Story of the Last Years of Deepwater Square-Rigged Sail Embodying therein the History and Detailed Description of the Finnish Four-Masted Steel Barque Herzogin Cecilie.
Jonathan Cape, London, 1932. 8vo, 415 pp, 68 pl.
Eriksson, Pamela: The Duchess. The Life and Death of the Herzogin Cecilie.
Secker & Warburg, London, 1958. 8vo, 247 pp, 17 pl.
Eriksson, Pamela: Hertiginnans sista resa.
Bonniers, Stockholm, 1960. 8vo, 231 pp, 17 pl.
Greenhill, Basil & Hackman, John: The Herzogin Cecilie. The Life and Times of a Four-Masted Barque.
Conway Maritime Press, London, 1991. 4to, 224 pp, ill.
Grönstrand, Lars: Åländska skeppsporträtt i ord och bild.
Ålands Tidnings-tryckeri, Mariehamn, 1978. 8vo, xxvii, 291 pp, ill.
Gyllenstierna, Eva: På världsomsegling med Herzogin Cecilie. Albert Bonniers, Stockholm, 1938. 8vo, 160 pp, 40 pl.
As passenger København-Port Adelaide-London in 1932-33.
Heikkinen, Helge: Runt Kap Horn med Herzogin Cecilie.
Ekenäs Tryckeri AB, Ekenäs, 1967. 8vo, 180 pp, ill.
Jeinnie, Jean: The Log of the Happy Girl.
Stowaway in 1928.
Karlsson, Elis: Havet är mitt hem.
Wahström & Widstrand, Stockholm, 1965. 8vo, 258 pp, 4 pl.
Leclercq, W.L.: Wind in de Zeilen.
Van Clampen, Amsterdam.
A voyage from Australia to England in 1932.
Lindfors, Harald: Vinden drar.
Söderströms, Ekenäs, 1978. 151 pp.
The author sailed with Herzogin Cecilie first as seaman but after six years he had advanced to mate.
Rogge-Ballehr, Elisabeth: Schule der See. Viermastbark Herzogin Cecilie. Biographie eines berühmten Ausbildungsschiffes und Frachtseglers.
Urbes Verlag, Gräfelfing, 1987. 8vo, 292 pp, ill.
Villiers, Alan J.: Falmouth for Orders. The Story of the Last Clipper Ship Race around Cape Horn ... With an Introduction by Frank C. Bowen.
Geoffrey Bles, London, [1929]. 4to, xxiv, 232 pp, plates.
A voyage from Australia to England in 1928.

Updated 1998-10-06 by Lars Bruzelius.

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