Wilhelm II who insisted that Germany had the most prestigious vessels afloat
—but principally because of Germany’s need to maintain an acutely
important trade route with South America. On 18 June 1899 the German
Kaiser visited the F. Laeisz shipping company at Hamburg and was shown
around the five-masted barque Potosi by the legendary Captain Hilgendorf. At
the end of the tour the Kaiser turned to Carl Laeisz and reportedly asked ‘Na,
Laeisz, wann kommt denn nun das Fünfmastvollschiff?’
2 Over the next three
years, following the Kaiser’s ‘advice’, the Preussen emerged becoming the
pride of the German five-masted South American fleet. She was huge,
immensely strong, incredibly well equipped, able to cover thousands of sea
miles at a steady 11–13 knots and she could transport a colossal cargo of 8000
metric tonnes.
On her outward maiden voyage under the command of Captain Boye R.
Petersen, Preussen carefully navigated her way down the English Channel and
then moved westward. Off ‘Start Point’ in Devon, she began her journey
proper heading south-west for Cape Horn on the southern-most tip of South
America. Beating into the headwinds of the Cape she crossed into the Pacific
then sailed north along the Chilean coast reaching the port of Iquique on 08
October just 65 days after passing Start Point. Here—using her two ‘donkey’
engines—she loaded 7729 tonnes of a brown mineral powder which had been
poured into 62,000 sacks, and on 24 October she sailed on the return journey
to Hamburg. Lizard Point (the southern-most tip of Cornwall) was passed
79 days out, and she entered Hamburg on 29 January 1903. This was the
first of thirteen trips over the next ten years that was to see Preussen visit the
northern Chilean ports of Iquiqui, Tocopilla and Taltal. Each time she loaded
almost 8000 tonnes of the mineral to become the ‘Queen of the seas’, part of
the commercial armada that plied the toughest trade route in the world—a
trade that would bring a tide of the brown mineral to Europe and the United
States.
The mineral was sodium nitrate (NaNO 3 ) or ‘Chile saltpetre’, a primary
source of ‘fixed’ nitrogen used across the world to replenish
3 cultivated soil
and to produce explosives.
4 Sodium nitrate for example could be used directly
to produce blasting powder (typically 74% NaNO 3 , 16% C and 10% S) or it
could be converted to potassium nitrate, KNO 3 , for use in gunpowder (75%
KNO 3 , 15% C and 10% S) because sodium nitrate, being deliquescent, was
unsuitable. This conversion initially relied on potassium carbonate but later it
was produced by ‘reacting’ NaNO 3 with ‘Sylvite’ (potassium chloride) large
deposits of which were discovered in Germany near Stassfurt in 1857.
5 The
‘double decomposition’ reaction was followed by fractional crystallisation; the
80
D. Sheppard
—but principally because of Germany’s need to maintain an acutely
important trade route with South America. On 18 June 1899 the German
Kaiser visited the F. Laeisz shipping company at Hamburg and was shown
around the five-masted barque Potosi by the legendary Captain Hilgendorf. At
the end of the tour the Kaiser turned to Carl Laeisz and reportedly asked ‘Na,
Laeisz, wann kommt denn nun das Fünfmastvollschiff?’
2 Over the next three
years, following the Kaiser’s ‘advice’, the Preussen emerged becoming the
pride of the German five-masted South American fleet. She was huge,
immensely strong, incredibly well equipped, able to cover thousands of sea
miles at a steady 11–13 knots and she could transport a colossal cargo of 8000
metric tonnes.
On her outward maiden voyage under the command of Captain Boye R.
Petersen, Preussen carefully navigated her way down the English Channel and
then moved westward. Off ‘Start Point’ in Devon, she began her journey
proper heading south-west for Cape Horn on the southern-most tip of South
America. Beating into the headwinds of the Cape she crossed into the Pacific
then sailed north along the Chilean coast reaching the port of Iquique on 08
October just 65 days after passing Start Point. Here—using her two ‘donkey’
engines—she loaded 7729 tonnes of a brown mineral powder which had been
poured into 62,000 sacks, and on 24 October she sailed on the return journey
to Hamburg. Lizard Point (the southern-most tip of Cornwall) was passed
79 days out, and she entered Hamburg on 29 January 1903. This was the
first of thirteen trips over the next ten years that was to see Preussen visit the
northern Chilean ports of Iquiqui, Tocopilla and Taltal. Each time she loaded
almost 8000 tonnes of the mineral to become the ‘Queen of the seas’, part of
the commercial armada that plied the toughest trade route in the world—a
trade that would bring a tide of the brown mineral to Europe and the United
States.
The mineral was sodium nitrate (NaNO 3 ) or ‘Chile saltpetre’, a primary
source of ‘fixed’ nitrogen used across the world to replenish
3 cultivated soil
and to produce explosives.
4 Sodium nitrate for example could be used directly
to produce blasting powder (typically 74% NaNO 3 , 16% C and 10% S) or it
could be converted to potassium nitrate, KNO 3 , for use in gunpowder (75%
KNO 3 , 15% C and 10% S) because sodium nitrate, being deliquescent, was
unsuitable. This conversion initially relied on potassium carbonate but later it
was produced by ‘reacting’ NaNO 3 with ‘Sylvite’ (potassium chloride) large
deposits of which were discovered in Germany near Stassfurt in 1857.
5 The
‘double decomposition’ reaction was followed by fractional crystallisation; the
80
D. Sheppard