ORIGINAL The Herzogin Cecilie-The Life and Times of a Four-Masted Barque, by Basil Greenhill and John Hackman (Conway Maritime Press, London 1991, 224pp, 125 photos, line plans, append, index, £25hb) Co-authored by the former director of the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich, England, and an authority on the social and economic life of the Finnish archipelagoes, thi s new book is the story of a beautiful four-masted bark launched in Bremerhaven, Germany, in 1902. It is based on material which had been long-stored in archives in the Aland Islands in Finland, ever since Herzogin Cecilie's mysterious loss on the rocks of the southern coast of England in 1936. At 3,242 tons and 310 feet in length , longer than a football field, Herzogin Cecilie was a large sailing vessel but by no means the largest. Designed not only as a training-cadet ship but as a cargo carrier as well, she was very heavily rigged, capable of carrying sail in the fou lest weather, built and fitted to the highest standards. The book carefully follows the life of the ship, her travels, her cargoes, her life story, her adventures. In 1914 she arrived in Coquimbo, Chile, 74 days out from the English Channel, with a cargo of coke taken aboard in Nordenham, Germany. As World War I had started, the Herzogin remained at anchor for the next four years in Chilean waters. In the fall of 1920, she went back to work again, loading 3,900 tons of nitrate. She was 82 days on the road to Falmouth for orders, good going considering the growth on her bottom; it had been scraped somewhat, but she had not been in dry dock. After discharging her cargo at Ostend, the French government took her over as part of the German reparation payment. A few months later, by the end of 1921, she was purchased by the famou s shipowner Gustaf Erikson of the Aland Islands in the Baltic, the man who owned the last sizable fleet of deepwater windjammers. Although sai led with only a third of the crew of her German days, the fourmaster continued to be exceptionally fast when cond itions were to her liking. During her Finnish days, she had two exceptional masters. The first, Captain Reuben de Cloux , took her over in 1921. The authors describe him as "a sh ipmaster who became internationally famous in the 1920s and early 30s as the commander of some of the finest remaining SEA HISTORY 60, WINTER 1991-92
merchant sailing vessels left afloat ... a highly competent shipmaster and a man of considerable character and independence of mind." In 1929 he passed on the command to the young Sven Eriksson who, the year before, had become chief mate. Eriksson had first gone to sea in 1919; when he took over the Herzogin, he had ten years experience, but she was his first command. This reviewer had the opportunity to serve aboard the lf erzogin under Sven Eriksson, who belonged to the old school of seamen , tough and rugged. He was not a large man, but he was fully in command. He had quite a reputation in the fleet as a driver, a no-nonsense individual. His was a job of high responsibility for the ship, the crew, and the cargo. He was expected to make good, fast passages, and it was up to him to find the needed winds. Several times when I was aboard, we made a good 300 miles a day, the best being 341 miles. On her last passage, the bark sailed from Port Lincoln, South Australia, on January 27, 1936, with 4,295 tons of wheat, arriving at Falmouth, England, for orders on April 23, just 86 days out, her fastest passage ever. On April 24, with orders to proceed to Ipswich, the Herzog in got underway from Falmouth heading to the eastward, up-channel. An evening mist thickened into a light fog, and then got thicker. The ship sailed on, steady, even quiet. It was at 3:50 AM that Chief Mate Elis Karlsson observed a dark mass off the port bow. Seconds later the great bark was ashore on the rocks of Sewer Mill Cove (the book calls it Soar Mill Cove) near Bolt Head, Devon. Why she was there no one knew. There is no logical explanation to put the four-master so far off course. The authors have done a splendid piece of research covering the last hours of the ship. There are statements made by the master and chief mate and members of the crew. There is a copy of the letter written to Gustaf Erikson by Pamela Eriksson, wife of Sven; she had been aboard the ship during the world voyage. The answer as to why the Herzogin was ~recked is left up to the readers. All the fac ts are laid out and it is a matter of choice. One day in the middle of World War II, abo ut eight years after the loss, I made my way down to Salcombe, the little village near Bolt Head, and chatted with those who remembered the accident. Some felt that there had been too much "drink" celebrating the 86-day
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