''Admiral Karpfanger'' was a German four-masted

barque A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel with three or more mast (sailing), masts having the fore- and mainmasts Square rig, rigged square and only the mizzen (the aftmost mast) Fore-and-aft rig, rigged fore and aft. Som ...

that was a

cargo ship A cargo ship or freighter is a merchant ship that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year, handling the bulk of international trade. Cargo ships are usu ...

and

sail training From its modern interpretations to its antecedents when maritime nations would send young naval officer candidates to sea (e.g., see Outward Bound), sail training provides an unconventional and effective way of building many useful skills on an ...

ship. She was built near

Bremerhaven Bremerhaven (, , Low German: ''Bremerhoben'') is a city at the seaport of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, a state of the Federal Republic of Germany. It forms a semi-enclave in the state of Lower Saxony and is located at the mouth of the Riv ...

in 1908 as ''l'Avenir'', which was the name that she bore until 1937. She spent most of her career with the Association Maritime Belge, SA. In 1932

Gustaf Erikson Gustaf Adolf Mauritz Erikson (1872, Lemland – 1947) was a ship-owner from Mariehamn, in the Åland islands. He was famous for the fleet of windjammers he operated to the end of his life, mainly on the grain trade from Australia to Europe. Eri ...

bought ''l'Avenir'' and added her to his fleet of commercial sailing ships. In 1937 Erikson sold her to

Hamburg America Line The Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Aktien-Gesellschaft (HAPAG), known in English as the Hamburg America Line, was a transatlantic shipping enterprise established in Hamburg, in 1847. Among those involved in its development were prominent citi ...

(HAPAG), who refitted her as a sail training ship and renamed her ''Admiral Karpfanger''. In 1938 she disappeared on her first voyage with HAPAG, with the loss of all 60 crewmen and cadets aboard.

Building

RC Rickmers, AG of Geestemünde, near Bremerhaven, built ''l'Avenir'' in 1908. She had a steel hull, was long, had a beam of and depth of . She had four masts and her

tonnage Tonnage is a measure of the cargo-carrying capacity of a ship, and is commonly used to assess fees on commercial shipping. The term derives from the taxation paid on ''tuns'' or casks of wine. In modern maritime usage, "tonnage" specifically ref ...

was .

''l'Avenir''

''L'Avenir'' had a long career as a Belgian sail training ship registered in

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

. In 1932 Association Maritime Belge sold her to Gustav Erikson, a Finn who re-registered her in

Mariehamn Mariehamn ( , ; fi, Maarianhamina ; la, Portus Mariae) is the capital city, capital of Åland, an autonomous territory under Finland, Finnish sovereignty. Mariehamn is the seat of the Government of Åland, Government and Parliament of Åland, ...

. Erikson operated a notable fleet of sailing cargo ships, which in the 1930s dominated the annual

Grain race Grain Race or The Great Grain Race was the informal name for the annual windjammer sailing season generally from South Australia's grain ports on Spencer Gulf to Lizard Point, Cornwall on the southwesternmost coast of the United Kingdom, or to s ...

to bring wheat from Australia to Europe. In 1933–34 the composer

Percy Grainger Percy Aldridge Grainger (born George Percy Grainger; 8 July 188220 February 1961) was an Australian-born composer, arranger and pianist who lived in the United States from 1914 and became an American citizen in 1918. In the course of a long an ...

and his second wife, the artist Ella Ström, were passengers on ''l'Avenir'' from Europe to

Port Germein, South Australia Port Germein is a small sea-side town in the Australian state of South Australia located about north of the state capital of Adelaide city centre, Adelaide and about north of the city of Port Pirie on the eastern side of South Australia's Spenc ...

''Admiral Karpfanger''

In 1937 HAPAG bought ''l'Avenir'' from Erikson and had her overhauled and refitted as a training ship for its officer cadets. HAPAG renamed the ship ''Admiral Karpfanger'' after Berend Jacobsen Karpfanger (1623–83), a 17th-century admiral of the

Hanseatic League The Hanseatic League (; gml, Hanse, , ; german: label=Modern German, Deutsche Hanse) was a medieval commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Central and Northern Europe. Growing from a few North German to ...

, and re-registered her in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

. In September 1937 ''Admiral Karpfanger'' sailed from Hamburg with a complement of 27 men and 33 cadets. She docked in Port Germein on 6 January 1938 and spent the next month loading a cargo of 3,447 tons of wheat. Her

Master Master or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles * Ascended master, a term used in the Theosophical religious tradition to refer to spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans *Grandmaster (chess), National Master ...

reported that the generator that powered the ship's wireless was faulty. On 8 February 1938 ''Admiral Karpfanger'' left Port Germein for the UK. On 1 March she reported to Awarua radio station on the southern tip of

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

that her position was , due south of the

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

. This showed that her Master had chosen to sail eastward to Europe ''via''

Cape Horn Cape Horn ( es, Cabo de Hornos, ) is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America (which are the Diego Ramírez ...

. She was then in contact with Norddeich radio station in Germany. The last wireless message Norddeich received from her was on 12 March.

Search and investigation

HAPAG took some months to realise that the barque was missing. On June 24 the authorities of New Zealand were informed. It was feared that the ship might have been stranded on either the

Bounty Islands The Bounty Islands ( mi, Moutere Hauriri; "Island of angry wind") are a small group of 13 uninhabited granite islets and numerous rocks, with a combined area of , in the South Pacific Ocean. Territorially part of New Zealand, they lie about e ...

Antipodes Island In geography, the antipode () of any spot on Earth is the point on Earth's surface diametrically opposite to it. A pair of points ''antipodal'' () to each other are situated such that a straight line connecting the two would pass through Ear ...

, both sub-antarctic islands of New Zealand."Stranded? Sailing Ship's Crew. The Admiral Karpfanger. A search Proposed", in: the Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 162, 12 July 1938, p5. To be consulted at https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/ Later, an Argentinian

motor ship A motor ship or motor vessel is a ship propelled by an internal combustion engine, usually a diesel engine. The names of motor ships are often prefixed with MS, M/S, MV or M/V. Engines for motorships were developed during the 1890s, and by t ...

, the ''Bahia Blanca'', searched for her but found nothing. A HAPAG motor ship also searched the route to search for her, but also found nothing. A Chilean ship searched the Cape Horn region from 10 to 12 October. In Windhound Bay on the south coast of

Navarino Island Navarino Island () is a Chilean island located between Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, to the north, and Cape Horn, to the south. The island forms part of the Commune of Cabo de Hornos, the southernmost commune in Chile and in the world, belong ...

her crew found two pieces of a door, a piece of name plate and a piece of wooden wreckage with a rope from the

Belgian Navy The Belgian Navy, officially the Belgian Naval Component ( nl, Marinecomponent; french: Composante marine; german: Marinekomponente ) of the Belgian Armed Forces, is the naval service of Belgium. History Early history The Belgian Navy wa ...

attached to it. These pieces of wreckage were believed to be from ''Admiral Karpfanger''. One ship in the area at the time that ''Admiral Karpfanger'' disappeared reported that it had sighted icebergs from

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

unusually far north for the time of year. Early in 1939 a maritime court in Hamburg noted different possible causes for her loss. She could have struck an iceberg. Alternatively a heavy sea could have damaged her rigging, her hatches or her hull. The court found the cause of her loss to be ''

force majeure In contract law, (from Law French: 'overwhelming force', ) is a common clause in contracts which essentially frees both parties from liability or obligation when an extraordinary event or circumstance beyond the control of the parties, such ...

''.

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

*{{commons category-inline, L'Avenir (ship, 1908) 1908 ships Barques March 1938 events Maritime incidents in 1938 Missing ships Ships lost with all hands Tall ships of Belgium Tall ships of Finland Tall ships of Germany