Ship Modelers Database
Pommern (ship, 1903)
Preserved (Museum Ship)
Pommern is a steel-hulled four-masted barque launched in 1903 as Mneme, one of the famous "Flying P-Liner" sailing ships of German shipowner F. Laeisz. She later sailed under the Finnish flag for Åland shipowner Gustaf Erikson and today survives as a museum ship at Mariehamn, Åland, Finland — prized by historians as the only windjammer preserved in essentially original, unmodified condition.
Kits of this ship
+ Add a kitNo kits listed for this ship yet.
Plans
No plan sets listed for this ship yet. Know of museum, archive or publisher drawings? Add them so the next builder can find them.
Links go to the publisher's or museum's own page. Ship Modelers Database lists plan sets; it doesn't host or display the drawings.
Build logs
+ Link a build logNo build logs linked yet.
Resources
+ Submit a resourceHistory & specifications
- USNI Naval History Magazine: Museum Report - The Lucky WindjammerArticle
Museum visit report describing Pommern's current preserved condition and dimensions, useful for understanding her present-day state.
- Wikipedia: Åland Maritime MuseumWebsite
Describes the museum and the Pommern as its centerpiece preserved vessel, with service details.
- Wikipedia: Pommern (ship)Website
Overview article with specifications, rig details, and service history of the barque.
Museums & archives
- National Maritime Museum: 1:100 Scale Model of Pommern (1903)Museum
Museum object page for a 1:100 scale model built by Victor Andersson, with detailed ship history and specifications useful for modelers.
Photos
- Wikimedia Commons: Pommern (ship, 1903) - SLV H99.220-1274.jpgPhoto
Historical public-domain photograph of the four-masted barque at wharf, sourced from the State Library of Victoria's Malcolm Brodie shipping collection.
History
Specifications
She is a steel-hulled, four-masted "bald-headed" barque (no royals above the upper topgallants), roughly 95 m long overall (about 106.5 m including bowsprit), 13 m beam, drawing about 7.5 m, of 2,376 GRT with a cargo capacity around 4,050 tons. Her rig carried 28 sails totaling about 3,240 m² of canvas on tubular steel masts, the mainmast rising roughly 50 m, and she carried a crew of 26.
Service history
Built by J. Reid & Co in Glasgow and launched 31 January 1903 as Mneme for Hamburg owners, she was sold and renamed Pommern in 1906/1907 under F. Laeisz, then purchased by Gustaf Erikson of Mariehamn in the 1920s. Under the Finnish flag she worked the Australia–Europe grain trade, twice winning the Great Grain Race, and while in the Chilean nitrate trade she twice sailed from the Lizard, southwest England, to Valparaiso in 65 days, and on the grain runs from Australia to Britain her average time over seven years was 85 days, an outstanding record. She made her final voyage from Hull to Mariehamn in 1939 just before World War II and was laid up for the duration of the war.
Notable facts
After Gustaf Erikson died in 1947 the barque was put up for sale, but no buyers could be found as she was in need of expensive repairs; five years later his son Edgar and sister Eva Hohentahl presented Pommern to the town of Mariehamn, and she was restored, including a new set of 28 sails totaling 3,240 square metres of canvas. She has a reputation as a "lucky ship," surviving both world wars unscathed and losing only four crew members at sea on her journeys. She is considered the only Flying P-Liner, and indeed the only large windjammer, still existing in essentially her original, unaltered state, making her an exceptionally accurate full-scale reference for modelers of late-era square-rigged cargo carriers.