''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

. 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

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

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

. 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