I must down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky...

[NGT6 1315]

Edited due to missing images and corrupted special characters.

 

Evening all!

As I said on ERs, I preferred to wait till I'd be back at my local broadband access for posting a selection of my holiday photos. We spent a few days at Cuxhaven on the mouth of the River Elbe where it flows into the North Sea.

As ships have, along with railways, been another big hobby of mine dating back to my childhood, I was particularly glad to be back in a region where I'd spent many happy days as a kid. Therefore, I guess you can tell what to expect now! Well, anyway – enjoy!

For a suitable musical score, I suggest you try this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEMEUTKVFeU





The historic lightship "Elbe 1" or "Bürgermeister O'Swald II" is based at Cuxhaven. It is usually laid up as a floating museum, but also provides occasional charter cruises and can be rented for special occasions such as weddings.






Heading to the harbour for an extended look-see on our second day, I found Cuxhaven's harbour has a number of inner basins separated from the sea by several sets of locks. Here, a floating ram is moved into the New Fishery Harbour by a tug called "Alte Liebe", which in turn is the name of the harbour's old outer seawall.





The locks in this passage are of the sliding wall variety, with roads spanning their tops. This one here is just opening to allow the formation from the previous image to pass.





Cuxhaven's harbour also comprises four yachting marinas, one of which is located in America Harbour.






A few miles to sea off Cuxhaven, an offshore wind turbine facility is being set up in order to evaluate the viability of such installations. These two freighters, called "Tim B" and "Bente", serve to transport the huge rotor blades to the construction site.






Being located on the mouth of the Elbe, Cuxhaven also is a logical spot for pilots to be based. This is one of the several pilot vessels allocated to the German Bight area, called "Elbe" and being a SWATH type craft. These would appear to be a preferred choice for this kind of mission nowadays due to their excellent stability even in rough seas. Also note the two launches carried on both sides of the ship.





Meanwhile, another of those pilot vessels assigned to Cuxhaven is called "Duhnen", and while much smaller than "Elbe" is a SWATH type ship also. She has three identical sister ships, called "Döse", "Wangeroog" and "Borkum."






This ship was called "Sleipnir" and appeared to be a work vessel dedicated to fishery-related assignments.





With the major port of Hamburg being located upriver, you can see some really big vessels here! This here was "Xin Beijing" from Hong Kong, measuring 1,108 ft in length and built in 2007.




The other day, we decided to do a trip to Heligoland, which is visited by excursion ships from several ports along the North Sea coast. Travel time was predicted to be about two hours and twenty minutes.




And this would be our ship that day: "Atlantis", measuring 256 ft in length and capable of 18 knots. Nice, classic look – just as I remembered these ships from when I was a kid...







A number of gulls were flocking on the slipway I was standing on .





I've always had a particular kind of affection for these ships. This is "Hermann Marwede", a 151-ft SAR cruiser operated by the German Maritime Rescue Service, or DGzRS going by their German name. Hermann Marwede is assigned to Heligoland Station, but often seen plying up and down the Outer Elbe as well. Much like RNLI, DGzRS are a privately founded, non-profit organisation, and have been officially tasked with providing maritime SAR services in German waters by a governmental agreement.





Meanwhile, Cuxhaven also has a SAR cruiser assigned: "Hermann Helms", an 89-ft ship. Most of these cruisers have a ship's boat, which is usually carried in a tub on the cruiser's stern, from which it can be launched through a stern gate. The one belonging to Hermann Helms is called "Biene", but absent in this image as it was obviously engaged in an independent mission.





This would be one of the numerous container vessels operated by Maersk, though I cannot make out her name on the photo. It is staggering how tremendously large these ships are.






And this would be "Biene" towing a Dutch yacht into port. These ship's boats are motorised and fully seaworthy, and are usually employed for smaller missions where the cruiser's presence would not be required, and of course to assist their mother ships in complex situations or in shallow water.






And this would be the pilot vessel "Hanse" returning to base.






We then sailed at 10.30, and while backing out from the basin I captured "Ark Forwarder", a RoRo trailer ferry.






Heading out to sea, we encountered "Hafnia Seaways" operated by DFDS. It would seem she was inbound for Cuxhaven proper, and is now back en route to Immingham.

As conventional passenger ships do not usually enter Heligoland's harbour due to lack of space, they must anchor at roadstead outside the harbour, with passengers then being shuttled back and forth with launches. This tradition dates back to when the island did not actually have a harbour, and was continued when the harbour was restricted to military use.






The island itself has a population of about 1,200. There is not much in the way of traffic, and most of that traffic which does exist is provided by battery-powered cars and lorries, with only a few municipal vehicles being diesel-powered. As it is, the island is a perfect spot if you want to get away from it all!





Small freighters are used to supply large goods to the island, with mail also being carried by passenger ships. Here, "Björn M." is being unloaded at the dockside.






The "lobster shacks" lining the dockside were once used by fishermen, but have since been converted to shops, pubs and a few art galleries. There even is a hardware store spread across several of these houses!






Another SAR cruiser: "Hermann Rudolf Meyer" from Bremerhaven Station, 76 ft long and taking a break after a routine patrol. This is one of the more recent DGzRS cruisers with an enclosed bridge on top of the superstructure. The traditional setup for these cruisers comprised an enclosed wheelhouse in the lower part of the superstructure and an open bridge on top, which is the design represented by "Hermann Helms" further up this post. However, worsening weather conditions and increased awareness for providing crew protection in hazardous situations (such as fire-fighting missions or chemical spills) have led to this new layout having been adopted by the mid-1990s. Of course, Hermann Rudolf Meyer also has a ship's boat, called "Christian."






A panoramic view of the island from the pier. The remainder of the village is located on the "Upper Land" in the background, which can be reached by an elevator.





"Lumme" is an inspection craft belonging to the Federal Waterways and Shipping Bureau.






These were "Atlantis" and "Fair Lady" swinging at anchor.






As we were beginning our return trip to Cuxhaven, this gull chose to ride with us .





Looking back...






...and flying all sorts of flags.





There also is a jet-powered passenger ferry working from Hamburg and Cuxhaven to Heligoland and back, called "Halunder Jet." This ship can do 36 knots and is seen here overtaking us.





Approaching the Elbe, we were then overtaken by this RoRo car carrier, called "Grande Sicilia" and hailing from Palermo.






This is a ship I spotted several times during our stay: "Artevelde", a Belgian dredger tasked with shipping lane maintenance and seen here working a stretch of the outbound lane.






Several vacationers were flying kites on the shore west of the harbour.




And with that, we were back in port, while "MSC Ivana" was plying out to sea.



The other day, were were taking a trip to the seal reserve in the outer Elbe, a few nautical miles off Cuxhaven. Weather was very foggy initially, though this actually created a rather appealing mood...





...with ships silently gliding through the mist like ghosts of steel. Here, "Artevelde" is at work again, now close to Cuxhaven proper.





We were advised to be very quiet as we slowly slid past the sandbar where a group of seals was dozing . In a few hours, they but would have to leave due to the high tide coming in.





Another gargantuan container vessel: "COSCO Africa", which is seen here heading out to Rotterdam to be fully laden.






This is the wind turbine construction facility, located east of Cuxhaven.






"Arnarfell" is a container feeder, hailing from the Faroe Islands and seen here being laden at the dockside.





"Tor Dania" was also waiting to receive her cargo.





This was a police cruiser called "Bürgermeister Weichmann" which was just preparing to go on patrol. Like the SAR cruisers, it has a ship's boat carried in a stern tub.








And "Artevelde" again, having dumped her load of sand and running high out of the water.




Well, and that's it, then. Hope you enjoyed reading!

Edited May 9, 2013 by 1216 025

[edcayton]

Thank you, extremely interesting. I now know what a SWATH vessel is! These modern large cargo ships do tend to be rather ugly though, don't they?

The car carrier out of Palermo, is she carrying cars from Sicily (they used to make some FIATs there, but I don't know if they still do), or is she just registered there?

 

Ed

[NGT6 1315]

 

 

The car carrier out of Palermo, is she carrying cars from Sicily (they used to make some FIATs there, but I don't know if they still do), or is she just registered there?

I really can't tell whether she may have any fixed schedule, though what I could find out is that she is currently under way to Lomé in Togo. Edited May 9, 2013 by 1216 025

[billbedford]

I really can't tell whether she may have any fixed schedule, though what I could find out is that she is currently under way to Lomé in Togo.

Grimaldi line do run liner services and are one of the companies who take passengers.

[NGT6 1315]

Grimaldi line do run liner services and are one of the companies who take passengers.

 

Interesting, thanks for that! I sure would like to do a trip like that some day.

[Captain Kernow]

Some very nice nautical images there, thanks for posting those.

 

But no tall ships though?

 

 

No stars either?.....;-)

[Red Fox]

Nice pictures there. Is the Ark Forwarder, the Stena RoRo, on charter to DFDS? Two of her sisters are running the Harwich-Rotterdam route at the moment.

 

Didn't see it posted on the forum but this happened at Cowes Week earlier this month:-

[steve1]

Excellent and fascinating pics.

 

Many thanks for posting!

 

steve

[Debs.]

I`ve really enjoyed your Cuxhaven photo series, excellent photography of a fascinating martime area; thanks very much!