Laura

A wooden barque built in 1857 by Peter Sager, of Vegesack. Dimensions: 36,2×8,5×4,7 meters and tonnage: 196 Commerzlasten and 442 register tons.

1857 March 26: Launched at the shipyard of Peter Sager, of Vegesack, for H. von Fischer, Bremen, and Hans Jürgen Wilmsen, of Vegesack. Assigned the official German Reg. No. _____ and signal QBWP. Employed in the ... trade. Captain Jürgen Wilmsen.
1866 September 22: On a voyage from Bremen to Baltimore with 210 passengers, the Laura was severely damaged by a hurricane, during the course of which 8 passengers were swept overboard and drowned.
1867: Captain Wilhelm Wilmsen.
1874: Sold to M.L. Stranne, Foglavik, Sweden, and was renamed Josefina. The new master was Captain O. Berndtsson.
1877 January 24: The Josefina arrived at Buenos Aires from Bordeaux; in the course of unloading her cargo, the vessel caught fire, and became a total loss

She was owned jointly by H. von Fischer, Bremen, and her captain, Hans Jurgen Wilmsen, of Vegesack, each of whom held a half share. Wilmsen was succeeded as captain by Louis Schmidt, also of Vegesack, who was succeeded in 1867 by Wilhelm Wilmsen; for part of that year H. Maass, first mate, acted as master, during Wilmsen's illness.

References:

Square-rigged ships, general references.
Pawlik, Peter-Michael: Von der Weser in die Welt; Die Geschichte der Segelschiffe von Weser und Lesum und ihrer Bauwerften 1770 bis 1893.
Kabel, Hamburg, c1993. p. 138, no. 58. Schriften des Deutschen Schiffahrtsmuseums, Bd. 33.

Updated 1997-06-08 by Lars Bruzelius

Sjöhistoriska Samfundet | The Maritime History Virtual Archives | Ships.