Pommern (ship)

This article is about the Finnish sailing ship. For the German battleship, see SMS Pommern.

Pommern at Mariehamn, Finland, in 2019
History
Åland
Name
  • Mneme (1903-08)
  • Pommern (since 1908)
Owner
  • F Laeisz
  • G Erikson
  • Municipality of Mariehamn
BuilderJ Reid & Co
Launched31 January 1903
StatusMuseum ship
General characteristics
TypeIron-hulled sailing ship
Tonnage
Length95 m (311 ft 8 in)
Beam13 m (42 ft 8 in)
Draught7.5 m (24 ft 7 in)
PropulsionSails, 3,420 m2 (36,800 sq ft)
Sail planBarque
Complement26
Pommern, anchored in the western of Mariehamn's two harbours, Västerhamn

Pommern, formerly Mneme (1903–1908), is an iron-hulled sailing ship. It is a four-masted barque that was built in 1903 at the J. Reid & Co shipyard in Glasgow, Scotland.

Pommern (German for Pomerania) is one of the Flying P-Liners, the famous sailing ships of the German shipping company F. Laeisz. In 1921 the Pommern had to be handed over to Greece as war reparation. In 1923 she was acquired by Gustaf Erikson of Mariehamn in the Finnish Åland archipelago, who used her to carry grain from the Spencer Gulf area in Australia to harbours in England or Ireland until the start of World War II.

On 2 March 1935, Pommern ran aground at Port Germein, South Australia,[1] but she was refloated and returned to service.

After World War II, Pommern was donated to the town of Mariehamn as a museum ship. It is now a museum ship belonging to the Åland Maritime Museum and is anchored in western Mariehamn, Åland. A collection of photographs taken by Ordinary Seaman Peter Karney in 1933 showing dramatic pictures of life on a sailing ship rounding Cape Horn can be found in the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich.

A 1:35-scale model of Pommern hangs in Grundtvigs Kirke, in Copenhagen, Denmark, though on being donated to the church in 1939, the model was renamed Dronning Alexandrine in honour of Denmark's then- queen consort.[2]

Pommern is so-called "bald-headed barque": it does not have royals over her upper topgallant sails. The topsails and topgallant sails have been divided in two (upper and lower) to ease their handling.

Pommern has the reputation of being a "lucky ship". She survived both world wars unscathed, lost only four crew members at sea on her journeys, and won the Great Grain Races twice, 1930 and 1937. "Pommern" is thus one of the most popular landmarks of Åland, and is visited by thousands of visitors annually.

In 2019 Pommern was placed in a purpose-built dock facility that can be pumped dry for periodic maintenance of the ship's hull.

  1. ^ "Casualty Reports". The Times. No. 47003. London. 4 March 1935. col A, p. 26.
  2. ^ Grundtvigs Kirke [Grundtvig's Church] (in Danish), København, DK