Hinrich Braren

Hinrich Braren ( born September 1, 1751 Oldsum; † August 4, 1826 in Tonning ), also Hinrich Brarens, was captain, pilot inspector and teacher of navigation. He wrote the first German-language textbook of Seamanship and set up the first state maritime school in the Duchy of Schleswig.

Life

Hinrich Braren was born in 1751 in Oldsum on the North Frisian island of Foehr the son of a whaling commander. Already at the age of 12 he was taken by his father on voyages and ran from 1763 to 1780 with annual whaling in Greenland. In 1780 he joined the merchant navy and acquired by accident in the Mediterranean, the complete command of a Dutch merchant ship of its shipowner. 1786 drove Braren on behalf of Kongelige Grønlandske trade from Copenhagen to seal hunting in Iceland and received the order to support a Danish expedition to explore the east coast of Greenland.

Inspired by this research journey, Braren 1792 left as a private teacher of navigation down on Foehr. In 1794 he was also a merchant and harbor master in Wyk auf Foehr. In 1796 he received the concession as an examiner and establishing a state school of navigation. This was in 1799 moved from Wyk by Tonning on the Eider, after being there Braren appointed as pilot inspector for the Eider and channel controllers. Because of the continental blockade during the Napoleonic Wars Tonning had risen to an important trading port in the short term.

Through his work as a teacher Nautical Braren recognized the lack of proper German literature since then Dutch literature was widespread. He therefore wrote the textbook system of practical helmsman customer, which appeared in 1800 in Magdeburg and three further conditions experienced. In 1807 he wrote another textbook system of practical Schiffer customer and gave 1820 in Altona, a so-called " set point " for determining the location of ships out. The two "practical" textbooks remained until the second half of the 19th century in northern Germany in use.

Family

Hinrich Braren 1773 married his first wife, Thur, born Früdden ( born March 25, 1751 Oldsum ), which called itself in Tonning Dorothea Brarens. She died in 1809. Hinrich Braren second wife Margaretha, born Steffens, from Itzehoe was married. From the first marriage ten children emerged during the second marriage remained childless. His daughter Gundalena (born Jung Göntje Braren ) married in 1806 the Hamburg shipowner Robert Miles Sloman, her sister Göntje married four years later Sloman's brother John Miles.

After the family had moved to Tonning, she called herself Brarens.

Bibliography

• Hinrich Brarens: system of practical helmsman customer. Wilhelm Heinrichshofen, Magdeburg in 1800. Reissues in 1807, 1819 and 1844.
• Hinrich Brarens: system of practical Schiffer customer. Friedrichstadt in 1807. Reprint 1819 ( Wilhelm Heinrichshofen, Magdeburg ).
• Cutlery book, Altona 1820.