The Blüse Neuwerk (also called Feuerblüse) was built in 1644 by the city of

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

on the island Neuwerk. Together with the other beacons and the

Great Tower Neuwerk The Great Tower Neuwerk is the most significant building of the Neuwerk island, belonging to Hamburg. Completed in 1310, the structure is one of the oldest worldwide that was used as lighthouse (1814–2014) and still standing. This former beacon, ...

, which was just a fortification at the time, it was the first

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lens (optics), lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Ligh ...

in the

Elbe The Elbe ( ; ; or ''Elv''; Upper Sorbian, Upper and , ) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Republic), then Ge ...

estuary and, after the Blüse Helgoland (1630) and Wangerooge (1631), the third on the German North Sea coast. The wooden frame was remarkably high for the time and was erected in the northwestern shore of the island. When its position was threatened by erosion of the shoreline at the beginning of the 19th century, it was replaced by a wooden lighthouse behind the dyke in 1814. The bearing together with the 1310 erected Great Tower Neuwerk (lighthouse since 1814) led sailors to the Schartonne near

Scharhörn Scharhörn is an uninhabited island in the North Sea belonging to the city of Hamburg, Germany. The once most important daymark on the North Sea coast, the Scharhörnbake, was maintained here by the City of Hamburg from 1440 to 1979. Geograph ...

. The northern daymark, somewhat further seawards, obscured the fire of the Blüse on that bearing.

Olaus Magnus Olaus Magnus (born Olof Månsson; October 1490 – 1 August 1557) was a Swedish writer, cartographer, and Catholic clergyman. Biography Olaus Magnus (a Latin translation of his Swedish birth name Olof Månsson) was born in Linköping in Octo ...

already depicted a lighthouse in 1539 on Neuwerk in his Carta Marina, however such a mark is still missing on Melchior Lorck's much more detailed map of the Elbe from 1568.

Construction

A three-part ladder under the platform led to the so-called guard house, a small room for the warden. On the platform itself stood the large fire grate. To protect the wooden structure from the open fire, a layer of clay, sand and a brick pavement on top covered the wooden planks. A replica of the Blüse Neuwerk stood from 1979 to 1994 in the German Maritime Museum in Bremerhaven.

Operations

In the beginning the coal fire was only operated between September 29 and March 31, from the beginning of the 18th century the season went from September 14 to April 30, and starting 1735 from September 1 onwards. For the year-round operation from 1761 onwards, 1000 tons of hard coal were needed. Hamburg imported the coal directly from Scotland until 1771, which produced a brighter fire than hard coal from Germany. The coal was then sourced from Hamburg. Hamburg built its own coal galiote and maintained a coal port near the beacon. From 1673, the ship also supplied hard coal to the Hamburg-operated Blüse on Helgoland. The warden ran the Blüse together with two servants and initially earned only 30 talers a year, from 1656 50 talers, from 1692 530 Lübische Mark and from 1695 650 Lübische Mark. The operation was suspended from 1807 to 1813, but there were further interruptions due ice drift and when the wooden structure caught fire in 1724 and 1794, despite having extinguishing water on the platform all the time.

References

{{authority control Lighthouses in Hamburg Buildings and structures in Hamburg-Mitte Lighthouses completed in the 17th century Towers completed in 1644 Buildings and structures completed in 1644 Transport infrastructure completed in the 1640s

Construction

Operations

See also

References