Rickmer Rickmers
Steel windjammer that survived seizure, war service and decades as a rusting depot hulk under other names.
This guide to the Rickmer Rickmers in Hamburg begins in 1978, when a Hamburg sailing association tracked down a rusting depot hulk moored near Lisbon and discovered she was once this ship, launched in Bremerhaven in 1896 as a steel windjammer built to haul rice and bamboo from Hong Kong. It follows her string of disguises: a storm-snapped mast repaired on the cheap in Cape Town, a wartime seizure in Portugal, and a series of new names and new flags across the twentieth century. You'll hear how close Hamburg came to losing her for good before the deal that finally brought her home. Look up at her rigging, rebuilt mast by mast to how she stood around 1910.
Audio guides are written and narrated by AI.