Future secured for classic German workboats

In Hamburg the Stiftung Hamburg Maritim, which relies on public donations, has largely restored one of the port city’s oldest intact harbour launches, the 105 year old Meta. The steel hull of the 12m long and 2.6m wide boat has been restored and a new 70 hp Deutz engine has been installed amidships.

Built in 1908 at the J.G.R. Roeger Soehne Werft in Wilhelmsburg, Meta was originally driven by a 25 hp engine and was used daily to carry people to work in shipyards and warehouses. The vessel was laid up in the 1980s.

Restoration work began in 2011 at the Theodor Buschmann Werft in Hamburg and has been funded by donations from maritime heritage supporters. The work is still going on. At last word the launch still needed interior seating, cover and sanitary facilities, but the plan is to complete it by next year for special excursion operation.

Juergen Seifert who heads the Stiftung Hamburg Maritim said: “It is wonderful to see how this beautiful old ship, which was just an empty shell to begin with, has, step by step, been filled with new life.”

Staying under steam, meanwhile, for another ten years at least in Emden is one of the oldest still serving German flag workboats built by cruise ship specialist Meyer Werft.

The 36m long and 5.75m wide Ems is a fraction of the size of the giant ships now turned out by Meyer. It was built in the firm’s tiny old shipyard in 1934 as an excursion and inspection boat and has been used by water and shipping authorities in Emden (WSA Emden) in recent years for general coastal monitoring and policing duties.

The vessel was laid up in 2012 by the WSA Emden after its operation was deemed uneconomical by the Berlin Government. It has now been handed over to the Traditionschiff Ems Association, set up specifically to look after and use the vessel while making it available to the WSA for 12 days every year.

Association members include the Reederei M. Lauterjung, Meyer Werft itself, and several other local shipping and maritime interests.

Ems has often been converted and modified. The wooden deckhouse was replaced by an aluminium one on 1959. It got a new engine in 1960, a new rudder plant in 1967, a new stern section in 1980 and the entire below-surface forward hull was replaced in 2002.

Today the ship is driven by an MWM four stroke diesel Type TRH 435 SU of 316kW over a fixed propeller and also boasts a 16kW wave generator and two diesel auxiliaries.

By Tom Todd