Until the middle of the 19th century, many coastal residents made their living from the flotsam of wrecked ships. There is no help for seafarers. That changed when the German Society for the Rescue of Shipwrecked Persons (DGzRS) was founded in Kiel in 1865.
by Dirk Hempel
Every year around 50 sailing ships get into distress on the German North Sea coast in the middle of the 19th century. But only one lifeboat is in use. There is also a lack of lighthouses and navigational aids that could show sailors the way between sandbanks and shallows, through fog and storms.
Beach property is welcome extra income
Until the mid-19th century, many coastal residents made their living from beach robbery.The traditional beach law still applies on the coasts, according to which the finder may keep the parts of a wreck or the cargo that he has recovered. Although no one wishes shipwrecked people dead, the flotsam is a welcome extra income. "God bless the beach", farmers and fishermen pray in East Frisian churches.
The sinking of the "Alliance" heralds a turning point
A turnaround begins in 1860. On the morning of September 10, the Hanoverian brig "Alliance", which is supposed to bring coal from England to Geestemünde, runs aground off Borkum. Milkmaids hear the crew of nine cries for help. Some villagers pass them off to the bathers as ghostly shrieks in the dunes, while other islanders are already lurking on the beach for flotsam. Eyewitnesses who nevertheless rushed to the beach had to watch as the sailors were gradually washed overboard by the surf and drowned. Their corpses lie on the beach for a long time while the people of Borkum plunder the wreck.
Shaken up citizens found the DGzRS
Committed citizens and founders of the DGzRS:Adolph Bermpohl, Georg Breusing and Arwed Emminghaus.This is how newspapers all over Germany report and are outraged by this "medieval barbarism". A navigation teacher at the nautical school in Vegesack, Adolph Bermpohl, also reads the articles and calls for the establishment of rescue stations based on the British model. A rethink is now beginning between Emden and Sylt, Flensburg and Memel. Coastal residents finally find themselves willing to help seafarers in need, and agitated citizens such as customs inspector Georg Breusing in Emden set up local associations.
The driving force behind the merger of the regional stations on May 29, 1865 to form the "German Society for the Rescue of Shipwrecked People" in Kiel was the Bremen journalist Arwed Emminghaus. The shipowner and co-founder of Norddeutscher Lloyd, Hermann Henrich Meier, will chair the meeting.
100,000 thalers for 50 rescue stations
The DGzRS, which is setting up its headquarters in Bremen, needs 100,000 thalers to initially set up 50 stations, plus up to 15,000 thalers a year for running costs. Back then, the board of directors developed a two-pronged donation model that still applies today:While Meier relies on donations of 1,000 thalers, Emminghaus favors the appeal for small and very small donations, which will soon arrive from all over Germany and push the development of the rescue work. The black, white and red collection boat has been around since 1875 and was even set up in Bavaria and Austria back then.
Rescue with the "pants buoy"
A "trouser buoy" was used to pull shipwrecked people ashore.In the year after the association was founded, the men on the North and Baltic Seas rescued 141 people from distress at sea. On January 14, 1866, for example, the Memeler lifeboat rescued 15 people from the Prussian barque "Marianne", on June 18, rescue workers from Wustrow fetched four sailors from the Russian schooner "Constantin".
In 1866, the DGzRS used a total of 122 lifeboats - and also 19 rescue guns:With rockets manufactured by the Royal Prussian fireworks laboratory in Spandau, lines were fired from the beach to damaged ships up to a distance of 500 meters. Shipwrecked people are then pulled ashore via this connection in a lifebuoy with trousers sewn on, the so-called trouser buoy.
Sea rescue by rowing boat
The boats are often pulled hundreds of meters through the dunes by teams of horses before the lifeguards row out through the surf.The men do the hard work. Horses usually first pull the boat from the shed through the dune sand to the beach, often hundreds of meters away, then the six to ten-man crew row out through the dangerous surf with extreme physical exertion. They wear oilskins with a sou'wester to protect against the cold sea water. A thick cork vest strapped around the upper body is said to protect against drowning. The specially developed "German normal rescue boat" is eight meters long and two and a half meters wide. It is made of sheet steel and weighs just 1,350 kilograms. With a draft of 35 centimetres, it is also suitable for shallow beach areas.
An operation can last many hours. In November 1880, for example, the rescue workers from Süderhöft in North Friesland rowed out to a stranded sailing ship in a thunderstorm. After 14 hours they return. The mission report notes:"It was only in the afternoon, 4 o'clock, that we arrived back at the station, completely frozen, completely exhausted."
Many helpers die in action
The boat cannot sink because it is surrounded by a cork belt on the outside and has air boxes on the inside. But the sailors can be washed about overboard. From 1869 to 1918, 21 lifeguards die at sea. To date, 45 people have died in an accident. Even if the ships have become more and more efficient and safer over the decades, and can now right themselves after capsizing, the service still claims human lives. For example, in 1995, when the rescue cruiser "Alfried Krupp" hit the high seas in a hurricane off Borkum and capsized. The foreman and engineer were washed overboard by the waves, and their bodies were only washed ashore long after the accident.
Donors and volunteers become the backbone of sea rescuers
The company has been funded by donations from the start. The collecting boats have been around since 1875.In the early days of the DGzRS, the sailing lifeboats developed in the 1870s already represented progress. They are stationed in Büsum, Cuxhaven and Dorumertief and already have shelters on deck. In 1890, the company had 111 rescue stations on the North and Baltic Seas, where more than 1,000 volunteers were on duty. Almost 50,000 supporting members support them with monetary donations.
First motorboat of the DGzRS arrives in 1911
From 1911, the DGzRS was also able to rescue seafarers far away from the coast with motor lifeboats.When in March 1911 the first ten-meter-long motorboat based on the British model sailed off Laboe in the Baltic Sea, it was tantamount to a technical revolution. The area of application can now be expanded further, and people can also be rescued from sea emergencies far away from the beach. When the First World War broke out, the DGzRS already had 14 motorized lifeboats. In the 1920s, numerous others follow that are equipped with radio and can be conducted from land. During the Second World War, the sea rescuers from the 34 North Sea and 67 Baltic Sea stations are still in action. The boats are now marked with a red cross, are under the protection of the Geneva Convention and continue to rescue seafarers of all nations - as well as enemy planes shot down at sea.
Innovative ship type:Lifeboat self-righting
After its commissioning, the "Theodor Heuss" was initially stationed in Borkum, later in Laboe.After 1945, the DGzRS continued to be deployed in the German Bight and in the western Baltic Sea. The sea rescue service of the GDR, on the other hand, was organized by the state until reunification in 1990. In the 1950s, the company then built a new type of sea rescue cruiser with a daughter boat that could also be used in shallow water. The lead ship "Theodor Heuss", put into service in 1957 and in use for the DGzRS until 1985, can, among other things, right itself. In the further development, the rescue cruisers of the new type class are becoming more and more versatile and safer.
Sea rescuers have already helped 85,600 people
Over 86,000 people owe rescue and quick help to the employees of the DGzRS in the almost 157 years since it was founded. In 2021 alone, the sea rescuers were deployed in 2,023 cases on the North and Baltic Seas and, according to their own statements, helped around 3,500 people. About 330 of them were freed from distress or other dangers. Today, the sea rescuers are deployed with around 60 boats. The private initiative that led to the founding of the DGzRS in 1865 is still its basis today. Even if the Federal President traditionally acts as patron, the organization is still in the hands of the company, which is financed exclusively from donations, and its 180 permanent and more than 800 voluntary rescue workers.