A legend of steel is back home:built in Hamburg in 1911, the "Peking" sailed the seas as a cargo ship until 1932. From 1974 she was a museum ship in New York. The "Peking" has been back in her home port since 2020.
"This is maritime history that is returning to the heart of the Port of Hamburg," said Hamburg's Senator for Culture Carsten Brosda (SPD) when the "Peking" returned to Hamburg on September 7, 2020 museum ship in the Hanseatic city. As part of construction site tours, those interested can already board the four-master before the historic tall ship's regular opening to visitors in 2022.
In July 2017, the four-masted barque was brought back to Germany from New York after 85 years abroad. The windjammer, which is no longer seaworthy, crossed the Atlantic in a floating dock ship and was restored in recent years in the Schleswig-Holstein Peters shipyard in Wewelsfleth. The history of the historical barque.
Flying P-Liner from the shipping company F. Laeisz
The freighter "Peking" is one of only four existing Flying P-Liners of the shipping company F. Laeisz worldwide. Apart from her, there are only the sister ships "Pommern" in Mariehamn, Finland, the "Passat" in Travemünde and the former "Padua". Today she is the Russian training ship "Kruzenshtern" and is the only one of the four ships that is still fully seaworthy. Another sister ship, the "Pamir", sank in a hurricane in 1957.
"Beijing" built for overseas trade
The "Peking" was built at the Hamburg shipyard Blohm + Voss, where it was launched on February 25, 1911. At 115 meters long, she was one of the largest sailing ships in the world at the time. From 1912, the steel bark, which can transport around 5,300 tons of cargo, is used in the saltpeter trade with Chile, but was arrested there shortly after the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914.
In 1928, three Flying-P-Liners were docked in the port of Hamburg:the "Priwall", the "Padua" and - at the back - the "Peking".After the end of the war, the "Peking" first went to London, and then to Italy in 1921 as a reparation payment. From there, the shipping company F. Laeisz buys the ship back two years later and uses it again as a freighter on the Hamburg-Chile route. The ship circled the legendary Cape Horn at the southern tip of South America a total of 34 times. On one of these voyages, adventurer and documentary filmmaker Irving McClure Johnson films the spectacular circumnavigation of the Cape in extremely stormy conditions in 1929 - an impressive historical document.
From Hamburg to England and on to New York
But the competition from steamships is growing, and freighters are becoming less and less profitable. In addition, the shipping company was hit by the economic crisis in the early 1930s. In 1932 she separated from the "Peking" and sold the ship to England. There it is anchored under the new name "Arethusa" as a stationary, i.e. no longer sailing, training ship in Upnor in eastern England. During the Second World War it was brought to West England by the British Navy for a time, but returned to Upnor in 1945. Since the ship no longer sets sail, unlike many other tall ships, it will not be fitted with an engine or modernized in any other way.
For more than 40 years, the "Peking" was anchored in Manhattan.In 1974 the British owners sold the ship to the South Street Seaport Museum in New York. There it is under its original name "Peking" more than 40 years as a museum ship on the East River. Since the museum has no money left over for the restoration of the four-masted barque, the "Peking" is visibly deteriorating over the years.
Three years for restoration in Wewelsfleth
In 2002, members of the "Beijing Friends" association negotiated with the museum in New York for the first time to return the ship to Hamburg. But the museum first demands a very high purchase price, then there are no sponsors for the urgently needed restoration.
In the spring of 2015, the museum announced that the berth of the "Peking" would be cleared - and wanted to give the ship away. Then there is movement in the matter. The federal government finally agreed to provide around 26 million euros for the transport of the ship to Germany, its restoration and the establishment of a berth in the port of Hamburg. In the summer of 2017, the "Peking" will be transported to Germany by dock ship and extensively restored in the Peters shipyard in Wewelsfleth near Brunsbüttel for a total of 38.5 million euros. After two years she leaves the dry dock freshly painted, in May 2020 the rest of the restoration work will be completed.
Lying place opposite the Elbphilharmonie
On September 7, the "Peking" completes her last voyage for the time being:the historic four-masted barque is taken from the shipyard in Wewelsfleth to Hamburg - back to her home port and welcomed by umpteen escort ships, with water fountains and a typhon concert. At her temporary berth at Bremer Kai, the tall ship is currently being fitted out for future use as a museum. The "Peking" will later have its final berth opposite the Elbphilharmonie. There the sailor will become one of the central objects of the planned new German Harbor Museum on Kleiner Grasbrook.