Passat (ship)

"Passat" is a German four masted steel barque and one of the Flying P-Liners, the famous sailing ships of the German shipping company F. Laeisz. The name "Passat" means a trade wind in German language.

History

Launched in 1911 by Blohm & Voss shipyard, Hamburg, the ship was used for decades as a cargo ship until well into the age of steamships. She participated in "The Last Grain Races", famous races around Cape Horn by the last working sailing ships. Among her crew was the bosun Niels Jannasch who later became the director of Canada's Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. In the 1950s, "Passat" and "Pamir" (which was not an exact sister ship of the "Passat") became school ships of the German merchant marine. In 1957, a few weeks after the tragic loss of "Pamir" and shortly after having been severely hit by a storm, "Passat" was decommissioned. She had experienced almost the same fate as the "Pamir" when her loose barley cargo shifted.

The ship is now a youth hostel, venue and museum ship anchored in Travemünde, a borough of Lübeck, Germany.

ister ship

Her true sister ship is the "Peking", which has also survived as a museum ship. She is an attraction at the South Street Seaport museum, harbour of New York in the United States. The "Pamir "has often been and is still discussed as "Passat"'s sister ship because both ships sometimes showed up pairwise in the 1950s. The last eight four-masted barques ordered by Laeisz have been incorrectly called "The Eight Sisters" because of their similarity including "Pangani", "Petschili", "Pamir", "Passat", "Peking", "Priwall", "Pola" (which never sailed under the Laeisz flag) and "Padua" which now sails the seas under the Russian flag as the sail training ship "Kruzenshtern". Of these eight ships "Pangani", "Petschili", "Pamir" and "Padua " had no true sister ships.

Footage of the "Passat "on the internet

* Original footage of the ship from 1957 is included in the documentary by Heinrich Klemme, [http://imdb.com/title/tt0336979/ "Die Pamir"] ("The "Pamir", 1959).:A clip of the German documentary is available at [http://www.schiele-schoen.de/shop/produkt.asp?IDProduct=222&did=10 www.schiele-schoen.de] , with the last 29 seconds featuring Passat (not under sails) shortly after she was hit by a severe storm in 1957.

ee also

*Flying P-Liner
*Pamir (ship)

External links

* [http://www.ss-passat.com Official website]