In 1926, the 56,000 ton liner Majestic provided transatlantic service and steam freighters had been crisscrossing the oceans for 40 years. But that year, a German shipowner saw fit to launch a 114m, 4,700-ton four-masted merchant sailing ship, the Padua.
It was the last merchant tall ship.
The shipping company F. Laeisz had good reason to make this bet: this steel-hulled sailboat, with the fine bow of naval technology, could still compete with freighters on the route to Chile.
F. Laeisz was founded in Hamburg in 1824 by hatter Ferdinand Laeisz. The company had diversified into import-export and began building ships in the mid-19th century. His sailboats soon concentrated on the Hamburg-Chile route, from which they returned laden with sodium nitrate.
Also called Chilean saltpeter, sodium nitrate was as essential as a fertilizer as it was an ingredient in explosives.
From 1880 to 1930, Chile was the world’s largest producer, thanks to the mines operated in the Atacama Desert, reputed to be the driest on the planet.
From Europe, the ships had to cross the Atlantic from north to south, pass the terrible Cape Horn, then sail up half of the South American continent, to the port of Iquique, where the saltpeter was loaded into their holds. At the beginning of the 20th century, tall ships still had certain advantages over steam freighters on this route.
A tall ship, at the best speed, could maintain a speed of 12 knots (22 km/h), compared to a cruising speed of 8 to 10 knots (15 to 18 km/h) for the standard freighter of the early 20th century.
That is why, in 1900, F. Laeisz ordered the largest sailing ship of its time.
Launched on May 7, 1902, the Preussen was the only commercial square five-master in history.
Its characteristics resulted from the remarkable progress made in shipbuilding in the last half of the 19th century. The steel hulls could support four or five masts, all the higher as they were also made of steel, as were the yards and the ropes.
147 m long, the Preussen carried six square sails per mast, plus a dozen longitudinal sails, for a sail area of 6806 m2.
Her mainmast was 58m above the deck.
It had neither engines nor extra propellers. However, two auxiliary boilers powered the winches and rigging operations, which is why, despite her size, she had only 45 crew.
His first crossing took him to Iquique in 64 days. This canvas cathedral did even better on its second voyage the following year, with a record crossing of 57 days.
Although he went to Chile almost light, for lack of cargo for the South American market, he came back loaded with 8,000 tons of nitrate, which was enough, at the rate of two trips a year, to ensure his profitability.
The fastest ship on the nitrate route, she had been dubbed “the queen of queens of the seas” by her English competitors.
Its best daily average was achieved in 1908, with a course of 424 nautical miles in 24 hours, equivalent to a speed of nearly 18 knots (33 km/h).
A little too high speed for his good…
Type: square five-masterLaunch: 1902 Length overall: 147 m Displacement: 11,500 tons Number of masts: 5 Number of sails: 46 Sail area: 6806 m2 Crew: 45 Maximum speed: 20.5 knots (38 km/h)
The Preussen ran aground in 1910 in the English Channel, after a steamer, who did not think it was as fast, tried to cut its course during the night and boarded it.
This loss did not prevent the F. Laeisz from building four four-masted barques between 1911 and 1917. Rigged with auric sails rather than square on their mizzenmast and slightly shorter than the Preussen, they were considered easier to maneuver by their crew.
At the dawn of the First World War, the F. Laeisz owned about fifteen tall ships, which made two round trips on average in 18 months.
In 1919, at the end of the conflict, F. Laeisz was forced to cede its fleet to the allies in war indemnities, which should have led to its bankruptcy. But several of his tall ships are then anchored in Chile, full to the brim with a nitrate that starving Germany urgently needs.
Launched on June 24, 1926, the Padua immediately set off on the nitrate route. It has made eight round trips in six years, but the exploitation of Chilean saltpeter is drying up.
As extraction costs grew, the development of the Haber process for the synthesis of ammonia in 1913 introduced the industrial production of nitrate to Germany.
From 1934, the Padua was converted to the transport of grain from Australia. In July 1939, he returned to Europe with a final load of wheat. The Second World War surprises him in Hamburg. This was the last commercial crossing for a F. Laeisz sailboat.
The opening of the Panama Canal in 1914 tightened the first rivets in the steel coffin of tall ships. They could not engage under sail in the canal and being killed there was prohibitive, while the journey of cargo ships was shortened by almost half.
Moreover, with the invention of the steam turbine, the progressive replacement of coal by fuel oil, then the appearance of the marine diesel engine, these had become increasingly larger, faster and more efficient.
The merchant sail had lived.
Type: four-masted barqueLaunch: 1926 Length overall: 114.5 m Displacement: 4700 tons Number of masts: 4 Number of sails: up to 34 Sail area: 3400 m2 Maximum speed: approx. 20 knots (37 km/h)
The F. Laeisz did not sink with her sailboats. In 1930, its refrigerated freighters for transporting bananas already provided it with the largest share of its income.
At the end of the Second World War, after its ships had again been confiscated by the Allies, it gradually reconstituted its fleet, to become today a powerful company which owns about sixty boats.
For its part, the Padua is still sailing. Sold in 1946 to the USSR, it was transformed into an oceanographic study vessel, then into a training ship. Under the name of Krusenstern (or Kruzenshtern), it made a stopover in Quebec in 1984 and in 2012.
In October 2022, Japanese shipping company Mitsui O.S.K. Lines has taken delivery of its first bulk carrier equipped at the bow with a telescopic rigid sail. The company estimates that it will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 8% for a crossing between Japan and the United States.
Almost a century after the launch of the Padua, sailing is back.
Type: bulk carrier Shipowner: Mitsui O.S.K. LinesLaunch: 2022Length: 235m Deadweight tonnage: 100,400 tonsOne telescopic rigid sail: 53m high, 15m wide
