''Ritter Sankt Georg'', also known as ''Sankt Georg'', was a
galleon
Galleons were large, multi-decked sailing ships first used as armed cargo carriers by European states from the 16th to 18th centuries during the age of sail and were the principal vessels drafted for use as warships until the Anglo-Dutch War ...
warship that served in the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Navy
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Navy was the navy of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Early history
The Commonwealth Navy was small and played a relatively minor role in the history of the Commonwealth.
Juliusz Bardach, Boguslaw Lesnodor ...
from 1627 to 1628.
[J. Pertek: ''Polacy na morzach i oceanach'', vol. 1.]
Name
The ship is referred to in the
German-language
German ( ) is a West Germanic language mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the Italian province of South Tyrol. It is also a c ...
sources as ''Ritter Sankt Georg'', and shortly as ''Sankt Georg'', which, respectively, mean ''Knight of Saint George'', and ''Saint George''. The
Polish-language
Polish (Polish: ''język polski'', , ''polszczyzna'' or simply ''polski'', ) is a West Slavic languages, West Slavic language of the Lechitic languages, Lechitic group written in the Latin script. It is spoken primarily in Poland and serves as t ...
name that was used for the ship in the 17th century remains unknown, however, the ship is retroactively referred to as ''Rycerz Święty Jerzy'' and ''Święty Jerzy'', in modern Polish-language sources, which is a direct translation of the German name.
[
]
History
The ship was made in the town of Puck, Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
, and its construction lasted from 1625 to 1627. After its launch, it served for the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Navy
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Navy was the navy of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Early history
The Commonwealth Navy was small and played a relatively minor role in the history of the Commonwealth.
Juliusz Bardach, Boguslaw Lesnodor ...
.[
It was a ]flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...
of the navy during the Battle of Oliwa
The Battle of Oliwa, also known as the Battle of Oliva or the Battle of Gdańsk Roadstead, was a naval battle that took place on 28 November, 1627, slightly north of the port of Danzig off of the coast of the village of Oliva during the Polis ...
of Polish–Swedish War, that took place on 28 November 1627. It was commanded by the Admiral Arend Dickmann
Arend Dickmann, (1572 – 28 November 1627) also originally spelled as Dijckman, was an Admiral of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Navy, that commanded the fleet in the Battle of Oliwa in 1627, during the Polish–Swedish War.
History ...
, while Hieronim Teschke was the skipper. On its board was also Capitan Jan Storch who commanded the marines. During the battle, ''Ritter Sankt Georg'' had attacked and boarded the enemy galleon '' Tigern''. The fight aboard the ship ended with Polish victory and the capture of the vessel. ''Ritter Sankt Georg'' had also fired from the broadside
Broadside or broadsides may refer to:
Naval
* Broadside (naval), terminology for the side of a ship, the battery of cannon on one side of a warship, or their near simultaneous fire on naval warfare
Printing and literature
* Broadside (comic ...
, hitting the enemy galleon Pelikanen. The Admiral Arend Dickmann
Arend Dickmann, (1572 – 28 November 1627) also originally spelled as Dijckman, was an Admiral of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Navy, that commanded the fleet in the Battle of Oliwa in 1627, during the Polish–Swedish War.
History ...
had died at the end of the battle, aboard ''Tigern'', being hit with the stray round shot
A round shot (also called solid shot or simply ball) is a solid spherical projectile without explosive charge, launched from a gun. Its diameter is slightly less than the bore of the barrel from which it is shot. A round shot fired from a la ...
, that was probably shot from the enemy Pelikanen, or in the friendly fire
In military terminology, friendly fire or fratricide is an attack by belligerent or neutral forces on friendly troops while attempting to attack enemy/hostile targets. Examples include misidentifying the target as hostile, cross-fire while eng ...
from '' Fliegender Hirsch''. ''Ritter Sankt Georg'' itself sustained the damages in the battle, including being hit 3 times under the line of water.[
On 2 May 1628, Hieronim Teschke become the new captain of the ship. On 5 or 6 July 1628 Polish ships were attacked by Swedish artillery near the ]Wisłoujście Fortress
Wisłoujście Fortress ( pl, Twierdza Wisłoujście, german: Festung Weichselmünde) is an historic fortress located in Gdańsk by the Martwa Wisła river, by an old estuary of the river Vistula, flowing into the Bay of Gdańsk. The fortress is lo ...
at the Martwa Wisła
The Martwa Wisła (; german: Tote Weichsel; both literally "dead Vistula") is a river, one of the branches of the Vistula, flowing through the city of Gdańsk in northern Poland.
It got its name when this branch of the river became increasingly ...
river. After midnight, on 6 July, ''Ritter Sankt Georg'' got stuck on the backshore
The backshore area of a beach extends from the limit of high water foam lines to dunes or extreme inland limit of the beach. It is only affected by waves during exceptional high tides or severe storms.Whittow, John (1984). ''Dictionary of Physical ...
. Before it managed to free itself, it got seriously damaged by the Swedish artillery. The crew had abandoned the ship in the early morning, following which, it burned down. Captain Teschke died during the fight. The rest of the ships had retreated up the river, with the exception of ''Gelber Löwe
Gelber is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Alexis Gelber, Goldsmith Fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government
*Arthur Gelber, CC (1915–1998), Canadian philanthropist
* Bruno Leonardo Gelber (born 1941), Argentine cl ...
'' which also got destroyed in the battle,[Maciej Flis: ''Twierdza Wisłoujście''. In: ''Muzeum Gdańska. Przewodnik ilustrowany''. p. 234.]
Specifications
The ship was a galleon
Galleons were large, multi-decked sailing ships first used as armed cargo carriers by European states from the 16th to 18th centuries during the age of sail and were the principal vessels drafted for use as warships until the Anglo-Dutch War ...
with the length of a hull between the stems being around 24 m (120 Amsterdam feet
The Dutch units of measurement used today are those of the metric system. Before the 19th century, a wide variety of different weights and measures were used by the various Dutch towns and provinces. Despite the country's small size, there was a l ...
) and the width of the hull is 7.4 m (26 Amsterdam feet). It had a cargo capacity of around 400 tones (200 lasts). The ship had 31 cannon
A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder ...
s of various caliber
In guns, particularly firearms, caliber (or calibre; sometimes abbreviated as "cal") is the specified nominal internal diameter of the gun barrel Gauge (firearms) , bore – regardless of how or where the bore is measured and whether the f ...
at the broadside
Broadside or broadsides may refer to:
Naval
* Broadside (naval), terminology for the side of a ship, the battery of cannon on one side of a warship, or their near simultaneous fire on naval warfare
Printing and literature
* Broadside (comic ...
. Its crew counted 50 sailors and 100 marines
Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refle ...
.[
]
Citations
Notes
References
{{reflist
Bibliography
* J. Pertek: ''Polacy na morzach i oceanach'', vol. 1, Poznań: Wydaw. Poznańskie, 1981, ISBN 83-210-0141-6, OCLC 749548852.
* Maciej Flis: ''Twierdza Wisłoujście''. In: ''Muzeum Gdańska. Przewodnik ilustrowany''. Warsaw: Foto Liner, 2018. ISBN 978-83-62559-29-9.
Naval ships of Poland
Galleons
1620s ships
Ships sunk by coastal artillery
Shipwrecks in rivers