Pamir was a four-masted barque (which is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts), built for the German shipping company F. Laeisz in Hamburg in 1905. She was the last commercial sailing ship to round Cape Horn, in 1949.
She was handed over to Italy in 1920 as part of war reparations (WWI). In 1924, the F. Laeisz Company bought her back and put her into service in the nitrate trade again. Laeisz sold her in 1931 to the Finnish shipping company of Gustaf Erikson, which used her in the Australian wheat trade.
During World War II, New Zealand captured it from the Finnish corporation, as war loot basically, and didn’t return it until 1948.
The last owner was a German company that used it as a school ship and modernized it (Adding a motor and modern necessities. Though the propeller fell off during a voyage). Eventually even this failed to make the ship profitable and the company couldn’t afford to take care of the ship.
On September 21, 1957, she was caught in Hurricane Carrie and sank off the Azores. A nine-day search for survivors was organized by the United States Coast Guard. Cutter Absecon, but only four crewmen and two cadets were rescued alive, from two of the lifeboats. It was reported that many of the 86 men aboard had managed to reach the boats, but most died in the next three days.
The sinking made headlines around the world; it was a national tragedy in Germany.
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| Picture of Pamir as she is heading into Hurricane Carrie. Picture taken by Chief Engineer Serafims Berzins aboard M/S Coolangatta. Coolangatta has recently left Cape Town and endured Hurricane Carrie, when they met Pamir headed straight for the hurricane. Seen on the picture are junior engineers (on the left) and cooks (on the right). |
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ReplyDeleteEventually even this failed to make the ship profitable and the company couldn’t afford to take care of the ship.
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