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| Alexander von Humboldt |
The Light vessel Alexander von Humboldt was
built in 1906 by the German shipyard Werft AG Weser in Bremen and
was initially named "Reserve Sonderburg". Originally she was
operated throughout the North and Baltic Seas until being retired in
1986. She was then converted into a three masted Barque by German
shipyard Motorwerke Bremerhaven and was re-launched in 1988 as the
flagship of the German Sailtraining Foundation.
Planned and
ordered in 1906 as a Reserve-Lightvessel (to be used to replace
other Lightvessels while they were being maintained), the ship was
launched on September 10th 1906 at the German shipyard Werft AG
Weser as Building-number 155 and was the first in a class of
sisters. Her hull was based on a sailing ship, as was common in this
class of ship. It is not completely clear whether she was christened Reserve
Fehmarnbelt (after her first Station), or Reserve Sonderburg
as both can be found. Following the Ship's Bell, she was named
Reserve and a home port of Sonderburg (today Danish Sønderborg)
is most likely. From 1920 to 1945, her home port was Kiel-Holtenau, and she
served in many positions, mainly in the Baltic Sea.
In 1945 she was installed as a permanent replacement of the
Lightvessel Kiel, which had been damaged by British planes.
In the spring of 1957 she was rammed by a Swedish Freightship and
sank. She was retrieved and after a two-year overhaul and
modernization, was put back in service in 1959. In the middle of 1967 her location was replaced by a lighthouse,
at which point she returned to serving as a Reserve-Lightvessel
mainly in the North Sea under the name Kiel, and afterwards
as a permanent replacement for the retired Amrumbank. Being
replaced there by a fully automated lightvessel and following
another collision and another overhaul in Wilhelmshaven, she was
sailed to Bremerhaven and named Confidentia. Then a newly founded foundation, the Deutsche Stiftung Sail
Training (DSST) bought the vessel to transform her into a Tall
ship based on her sailing ship hull.
As a reference to the sailing ships of Bremer shipping company
Rickmers, her hull was painted green, and green sails were used as a
marketing tool by the ship's sponsor, the German brewer Beck's. On
May 30th 1988 she was christened Alexander von Humboldt after
the legendary German explorer. "Alex", as she is called by her crew, serves as a Sail training
ship and is the flagship of the German Sailtraining Foundation,
Deutsche Stiftung Sail Training (DSST). She gained international
popularity as the main location of German Brewery Beck's advertising
campaign. Since then, Alex has traveled over 200,000 nautical miles
(370,000 km) in 15 years (equal to 8 1/2 times around the equator).
High points every year are Tall Ship Races and winter cruises around
the Canary Islands. In summer, she stays in the North and Baltic
Seas most of the time. Her longest cruise to date was a cruise in memorial of Alexander
von Humboldt's South America expedition to South America and the
Caribbeans. In January 2006, Alex rounded Cape Hoorn, following the
route of the legendary Tall Ships of the 19th century to celebrate
her centenary year. |
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