Preussen (ship)

Preussen under full sail
History
German Empire
NamePreußen
NamesakeState and Kingdom of Prussia (Preußen)
OwnerF. Laeisz Shipping Company
RouteHamburg-Chile (12 journeys); 1 journey round the world in charter to Standard Oil Co.
OrderedNovember, 1900
Builder
CostM 1,200,000 (About US$300,000 then)
Yard number179
Laid downAugust 1901
Launched7 May 1902 and christened the same day
Completed7 July 1902
Commissioned10 July 1902
Maiden voyage31 July 1902 to Iquique, Chile in 64 days
HomeportHamburg, Germany
Identification
FateWrecked near Dover on 6 November 1910, no loss of men
BadgeNone; no figurehead, a volute instead
General characteristics
Class and type
  • five-masted full-rigged steel ship
  • nitrate carrier, bulk carrier
Tonnage
Displacement11,150 long tons (11,330 t) (at 8,000 long tons or 8,100 metric tons load)
Length
Beam53.8 ft (16.4 m)
Height
  • 223.1 ft (68.0 m) (keel to masthead truck)
  • 190.28 ft (58.00 m) (deck to masthead truck)
Draft27.09 ft (8.26 m)
Depth33.59 ft (10.24 m) (depth molded)
Depth of hold32.48 ft (9.90 m)
Decks2 continuous steel, poop, forecastle, and midship island (bridge) decks
Deck clearance8 ft (2.4 m)
Installed powerno auxiliary propulsion; 2 donkey engines for sail winches, loading gear, pumps, generator
Propulsionsail
Sail plan
Speed20.5 knots (38.0 km/h)
Boats & landing
craft carried
4 lifeboats on the aft main deck
Complement45, 49 max.
Crewcaptain, 1st, 2nd, & 3rd mates, steward, cook, sailmaker, 38 to 42 able seamen and shipboys
Notessmall surgery, Jarvis patent brace winches for each mast

Preussen (Preußen in German and as written on the vessel) (PROY-sin) was a German steel-hulled, five-masted, ship-rigged sailing ship built in 1902 for the F. Laeisz shipping company and named after the German state and kingdom of Prussia. She was the world's only ship of this class with five masts, carrying six square sails on each mast.

Until the 2000 launch of Royal Clipper, a sail cruise liner, she was the only five-masted full-rigged ship ever built.