I had the pleasure of sailing on the Royal Clipper for 2 weeks in Sept. 2023 and enjoyed every minute of it. Under full sail she was an awesome spectacle never to be forgotten.
Thank you so much for this excellent presentation..! Dad said that Grandpa quit the Potosi after several voyages, because the moaning of the wire rigging in a storm resonated so loudly throughout the steel masts and hull, that it became unbearable while working to windward, for days or weeks beating around the Horn . He returned to wooden ships,"dog-hole" coastal schooners, sailing from Seattle to California and also to the Sandwich Isles. When he quit sailing [ He never did "go to steam" ] he climbed, topped, and rigged "spar Trees" from Washington state, down through the Oregon Coast forests, to Marin County, California, in the early 1900's.
As a schoolboy in Schleswig Holsteinin in the 1950s I was lucky enough to have a trip on the sister ship Passat in the Baltic.Never to be forgotten this just brings back magic memories!
Passat is not a Preussen's sister ship. Passat carried only 4 masts. All those sailing ships with names starting with "P" belonged to one owner Ferdinand Laeisz, who ordered them. They all did not resemble each other.
A great video - I've always admired 'Preussen' and the other Flying P-Liners but it's hard to get a good idea of their deck layout and appearance from the photos, line drawings and grainy film footage of the time. The 3D model really brings it all into the clear. Although you clear it up in your voiceover, your title isn't entirely right - there were other five-masted sailing ships (and schooner-rigged ships with even more) but 'Preussen' was the only one to be square-rigged on all five masts. I've always been interested in the apparent contradiction between all the written history which says that 'Preussen' had steam-powered steering gear, and the equally consistent fact that she had a double wheel which sometimes needed six or eight men to handle. Either her steam gear was not very powerful, or it was only used when close inshore or when lots of maneuvers were anticipated.
The young lookout on on the Brighton apparently slept on his post, causing a delayed and misguided reaction. The Preussen, after the anchoring attempt broke all of it's 3 anchor cables in windy conditions, was to be towed to Dover for repairs as it was still waterproof despite not maneuverable (the bulkheads did an amazing job) but on it's way, a strong gust of wind pressed her on the aforementioned reef despite the tugboats' efforts to prevent it.
I posted this as a link on my Facebook group and to date 3 members have told me of other 5 masted sailing ships.... SV Carroll A Deerling. SV Potosi, SV Vigilant, SV Bords ......
Well, except for the lumber schooners on the west coast, that's true. There was one lumber schooner that had 7 masts actually. They were galf rigged, not square -Veteran '66-68
Strange as it sounds we Poles HAD a sailing ship with 5 masts. Named with an abbreviation (!) she made, as far, as I know, ONLY ONE VOYAGE under our merchant flag. 😊
Dutch flag proved lucky to us the Poles, as we bought our first sail training ship in Holland. The only clipper under our merchant flag entered the history having crossed the Equator in 1923 en route to Brazil. 🇵🇱🇳🇱😊♍
Listen Mr Mariner, stop using imperial units. For sail area 73,260 sq ft you should use/say 6,806 m2. Visually lower number gives better understanding of the sail sizes and power of the ship. 73,260 does not speak to average person imagination. I hate imperial system... Obsolete and stupid...
I had the pleasure of sailing on the Royal Clipper for 2 weeks in Sept. 2023 and enjoyed every minute of it. Under full sail she was an awesome spectacle never to be forgotten.
Yes, the Royal Clipper was five masted, so this is not the” only” one ever built.
Thank you so much for this excellent presentation..! Dad said that Grandpa quit
the Potosi after several voyages, because the moaning of the wire rigging in a storm
resonated so loudly throughout the steel masts and hull, that it became unbearable while
working to windward, for days or weeks beating around the Horn . He returned to wooden ships,"dog-hole" coastal schooners, sailing from Seattle to California and also to the Sandwich Isles. When he quit sailing [ He never did "go to steam" ] he climbed, topped, and rigged "spar Trees" from Washington state, down through the Oregon Coast forests, to Marin County, California, in the early 1900's.
I often wonder if the cable logging systems developed in the early 1900's were inspired by tall ships. Brave men indeed thanks for sharing
As a schoolboy in Schleswig Holsteinin in the 1950s I was lucky enough to have a trip on the sister ship Passat in the Baltic.Never to be forgotten this just brings back magic memories!
Passat is not a Preussen's sister ship. Passat carried only 4 masts. All those sailing ships with names starting with "P" belonged to one owner Ferdinand Laeisz, who ordered them. They all did not resemble each other.
Brilliant! For 55 years I've wanted to know what the other masts were called
Excellent!
A great video - I've always admired 'Preussen' and the other Flying P-Liners but it's hard to get a good idea of their deck layout and appearance from the photos, line drawings and grainy film footage of the time. The 3D model really brings it all into the clear. Although you clear it up in your voiceover, your title isn't entirely right - there were other five-masted sailing ships (and schooner-rigged ships with even more) but 'Preussen' was the only one to be square-rigged on all five masts.
I've always been interested in the apparent contradiction between all the written history which says that 'Preussen' had steam-powered steering gear, and the equally consistent fact that she had a double wheel which sometimes needed six or eight men to handle. Either her steam gear was not very powerful, or it was only used when close inshore or when lots of maneuvers were anticipated.
The german term for the Preussen being a ship quarter rigged on all her masts is 'Fünfmastvollschiff' (word for word 'five mast full ship')
What an amazing vessel! 🌹⚓
The young lookout on on the Brighton apparently slept on his post, causing a delayed and misguided reaction. The Preussen, after the anchoring attempt broke all of it's 3 anchor cables in windy conditions, was to be towed to Dover for repairs as it was still waterproof despite not maneuverable (the bulkheads did an amazing job) but on it's way, a strong gust of wind pressed her on the aforementioned reef despite the tugboats' efforts to prevent it.
I posted this as a link on my Facebook group and to date 3 members have told me of other 5 masted sailing ships.... SV Carroll A Deerling. SV Potosi, SV Vigilant, SV Bords ......
But they were typically gaff rigged and they were also smaller than Preussen.
Well, except for the lumber schooners on the west coast, that's true. There was one lumber schooner that had 7 masts actually. They were galf rigged, not square -Veteran '66-68
Strange as it sounds we Poles HAD a sailing ship with 5 masts. Named with an abbreviation (!) she made, as far, as I know, ONLY ONE VOYAGE under our merchant flag. 😊
BRILLIANT
Perhaps to become hopelessly undermanned with a forest of masts and less than forty people to attend to them. 👍
The only one? Not so, the Carroll A. Deering was a five-masted merchant ship, launched in 1919.
She was not full rigged, but gaff rigged.
I wonder why wouldn't steering wheel be power assisted... Everything else was.
The first cars didn't have servo steering either. That was invented later. And most times one (maybe two) men were enough to steer her with leisure
She was. They pointed out the rudder was power assisted. But it was probably a crude system.
Hoy Sir, Well done! I must subscribe. Thank you.
I'm building a 16 foot model of the Thomas W. Lawson. Intresting names for her 7 masts.
why the dutch flag?
Dutch flag proved lucky to us the Poles, as we bought our first sail training ship in Holland. The only clipper under our merchant flag entered the history having crossed the Equator in 1923 en route to Brazil. 🇵🇱🇳🇱😊♍
Listen Mr Mariner, stop using imperial units. For sail area 73,260 sq ft you should use/say 6,806 m2. Visually lower number gives better understanding of the sail sizes and power of the ship. 73,260 does not speak to average person imagination. I hate imperial system... Obsolete and stupid...