More information : Sailed with a total of 113 passengers, comprising 5 nuns from Salzkotten, some Americans returning home, one Russian family, and the remainder German emigrants. She also carried a Weser pilot and a Channel pilot, it being intended to call at Southampton for the mail, and to embark more passengers. As she crossed the North Sea, the weather changed dramatically, first to dense fog, which then cleared, then snow storms. Her captain hugged the Dutch coast for as long as he could, then headed out towards the south-west. By Monday 06-DEC, the DEUTSCHLAND was hopelessly lost, and drove ashore on the inner face of the Kentish Knock shortly after 5am. It is believed that at this stage the ship broke her propeller shaft, and therefore could not reverse off the sand. Stranded 22 miles from land in either direction, her signals of distress went unseen. By the time the paddle tug LIVERPOOL managed to reach the wreck from Harwich, many had frozen to death. (1)
The liner DEUTSCHLAND left Bremen for New York on Saturday 04-DEC-1875, with 230 persons on board, mostly emigrants...Soundings were taken at every half-hour, the ship going dead slow, when at 5 o'clock on the morning of the 6th, she stuck on the Kentish Knock sands without seeing any of the lightships thereabouts...For several hours the DEUTSCHLAND sent up rockets without attracting attention, but at 9.30am the master of the Kentish Knock lightship discovered her, and by firing guns and sounding his foghorn did all in his power to signal shipping...At daylight on the 7th the paddle tug LIVERPOOL, under command of Captain Carrington, left Harwich for the Cork lightship, from which she proceeded to the Sunk and from there to the Kentish Knock, until she located the wreck. She anchored under the DEUTSCHLAND's lee, and sent boats, later running alongside to begin a hazardous transfer from ship to ship. Ultimately the LIVERPOOL embarked 173 persons. The number lost was 57, many of whom were frozen to death in the rigging. (2)
Wreck of SS DEUTSCHLAND. (3)
Sixth sale of cargo from SS DEUTSCHLAND: silks, satins, velvets, skins, embroidery, wines, musical instruments. 'The silks and velvets look quite new.' There was enough left to keep the divers busy for months. (3)
This incident is the subject of a poem, 'The Wreck of the Deutschland', by Gerard Manley Hopkins, written the same year. The full text is available online. (5)
Sources (1) and (2) give the tonnage as 2500 and 2898 respectively.
The result of research and an attempt to find the wreck in 2005 were broadcast by the German station ZDF on 13-APR-2008, under the heading "Journeys into the Unknown: The 31-hour Ordeal of the Deutschland". According to this programme the number of victims remains imprecise to this day but is around 57 persons out of 234 on board.
The vessel began to break up at the next flood tide after she struck, on the morning of 7th December 1875. The lifeboat was driven from the vessel with the some seamen aboard, towards Sheerness, where 30 hours later the alarm was raised.
Upon being informed by the LIVERPOOL, under Captain Carrington, left Harwich, taking four and a half hours to reach the wreck: the survivors were taken off and put up in a hotel once on dry land. Only twelve bodies were recovered. The master's logbook went down with the vessel the day following the rescue.
On 31 December 1875 the presiding judge at the inquiry, Lord Rothery, handed down a judgement that the master, Eduard Brickenstein, had done everything possible to save the life of his passengers and crew. However, he must have known that he was off course by several miles. In his evidence he stated that the ship had lost her propeller, but this was not followed up since he only held a second-class certificate. After this judgement he never went to sea again. (6)
LOSS OF THE DEUTSCHLAND: Fifty or more passengers drowned.
'London, Dec. 7. Lloyd's agent at Rochester reported this morning that a boat came ashore in that vicinity from the steamer DEUTSCHLAND, of the North German Lloyd, from Bremen Dec. 4 for New York. The boat contained one man and the dead bodies of two others. The man reported that the DEUTSCHLAND was aground somewhere in the North Sea. Lloyd's agent at Sheerness, nearer the scene of the wreck, confirmed the news of the disaster to the DEUTSCHLAND. The two men perished from long exposure, having been in the boat thirty-eight hours.
'The agent at Sheerness has telegraphed further that the person who arrived in the boat was a Quartermaster of the steamer DEUTSCHLAND, named August...Quartermaster August in his statement says that the Captain of the DEUTSCHLAND is Bussius. The steamer left Bremerhaven Sunday morning and struck the Knock on Sunday evening. Every effort was made to get her off, but in vain. The sea washed over the ship, carrying away much of her gear. The Captain kept very cool. Immediately after the ship struck he ordered life-belts to be distributed among the passengers and crew. The next morning, as it was thought the ship was about to break up, the order was given to lower the boats. August and two seamen were detailed to man one of the boats, which capsized twice in lowering. When she righted they drifted away from the steamer. They tried to pull back, but could not...
'Dispatches from Harwich say that the DEUTSCHLAND beat over the Kentish Knock, and is now in four and a half fathoms low water. She has apparently parted amidships.
'Capt. Brickenstein and part of the passengers and crew of the steamship landed at Harwich this afternoon. It is supposed that about fifty of the passengers and crew were drowned. The DEUTSCHLAND is now on the Long Sands, still further toward the Essex shore of England than the Kentish Knock. Two tugs and a lifeboat have proceeded to the scene of the disaster.
'Another account of the wreck. Names of some of the missing passengers. 156 out of 198 crew and passengers saved.
'London, Dec. 7...The DEUTSCHLAND fired rockets all day Monday and until Tuesday morning, and although they were seen from Harwich it was impracticable to send assistance until the gale moderated....The Captain says the distress signals were answered from the light vessels and the coast guard stations at Harwich during Monday evening, but, owing to the fierceness of the gale, it was impossible to send assistance. No life boat was to be had, and none other could live....
'The scene at the wreck on the arrival of the tug defies description...In the cabin were seen the corpses of ladies and children just as they retired. One hundred and forty persons were taken off by the tug, with scant clothing.
'London Dec. 8. 6am. The "Daily News" report of the wreck of the DEUTSCHLAND, says the passengers were abed when the steamer struck, and the panic which followed was terrible. It was the steamer LIVERPOOL which rescued the survivors. When she arrived at the wreck the hull of the DEUTSCHLAND was entirely under water....' (7)
List of passengers. (8)
'CAPTAIN BRICKENSTEIN'S ACCOUNT OF THE WRECK.
'London, Dec. 8. The Captain of the DEUTSCHLAND makes the following statement.
'We left Bremerhaven Sunday monring. A strong north-east gale, with snow, prevailed Monday morning. We threw the lead every half hour. The last lead we threw showed seventeen fathoms. We saw a light which we took for the North Hinder fire-ship, which also agreed with our reckoning. At 4 o'clock we had slackened speed, going slowly ahead. Suddenly, at 5.30, we felt a moderate shock. Our lead showed during the previous hour from twenty-four to seventeen fathoms. The engine was backed immediately, but after a few minutes the screw was lost, and consequently the machinery stopped. The ship commenced to strike heavily. We signaled several vessels which passed, even a steamer not noticing us. I ordered the boats to be made ready, and all were swung out, but it would have been impossible and useless to lower the boats, the sea being too high. Boat No. 1 was lowered against my orders, and swamped, with six persons in it.
'Boat No.3, with the boatswain, was lowered at the same time, but the tremendous sea washed many overboard. The ship filled slowly. The passengers behaved coolly. All were provided with life-preservers. The deaths were caused by the high sea and cold, many falling benumbed from the rigging. It blew hard Monday night. Immediately after striking sails were set and the donkey engine pumps worked, but were abandoned on Monday night, and at 2 o'clock all the passengers were ordered to the rigging, the upper decks being 2 feet under water. Many of the passengers in the wheelhouse and on the bridge were saved in the morning. With the ebb tide the water fell, and the passengers descended from the rigging. A tug-boat arrived at 10:30. All of the mails were saved, the purser having brought them into the cabin. The purser afterward fell from the rigging and was drowned. The ship probably broke her back.' (9)
'The steamer put to sea in a heavy snow-storm. A strong north-west gale rendered it extremely difficult to estimate her position by dead-reckoning, and the snow hid lights that, in clear weather, would have been easily visible. The lead was kept goinging, but its indications were baffling and uncertain. When the Galloper Light was made, the ship had gone a long distance out of her true course. The pilot mistook the light of the North Hinder Lightship, and shaped his course accordingly. Shortly afterward the steamer struck, and when the engines were reversed to drag her off the sand, her propeller was thrown off. Of course, she was then helpless...' (10)
Account of the examination of Captain Brickenstein and his officers, followed by revised estimates of the number of dead, first 68, then 78, and a list of the steerage passengers. There was said to be much confusion in transcribing the names of the survivors. (11)
'London, Dec. 14. The adjourned inquest at Harwich on the bodies from the wreck of the DEUTSCHLAND was brought to a close today. Capt. Brickenstein repeated the evidence he gave before, that he was thirty-five miles out of his course when the steamer struck. Witnesses were called to prove that the tug LIVERPOOL did all that was possible to save life.
'The jury, after deliberating three hours, rendered a verdict that the victims came to their death by exposure or drowning; that the primary cause of the wreck was that the Captain, in consequence of the state of the weather, lost his reckoning; but no criminal act is attributed to him. The jury add it is to be regretted that the DEUTSCHLAND had not the best-known appliances for ascertaining the distance traversed, that her boat-lowering apparatus was not of the best, and that an experienced pilot was not in charge...' (12)
Eyewitness accounts from survivors. (13)
Built: 1866 (1)
Builder: J Caird and Co. (1)
Where Built: Greenock (1)
Propulsion: Screw driven, 2 cylinder compound engine (1)
HP: 600 (1)
Master: Edward Brickenstein (1); Eduard Brickenstein (6)
Crew: 99 (1)
Passengers: 113 (1)
On Board: 234 (6)
Lives Lost: 57 (1)(6)
Owner: Norddeutscher Lloyd Co. (1)
Date of Loss Qualifier: Actual date of loss
Additional sources cited in Shipwreck Index of the British Isles:
The Wreck of the Deutschland, Street, 1992; TT.11.12.1875
Additional sources cited in The Salvagers:
Essex Standard 10.12 and 17.12.1875; 17.08.1877 |