SS Berlin (1894)

Postcard from PF van den Ende (Rotterdam, 1907)

Company registration number: 99454

The Berlin was a passenger ship of the British railway company Great Eastern Railway, which served from 1894 to 1907 as a ferry and passengers and cargo from the English port of Harwich to Hoek van Holland (Netherlands ) goods. On 21 February 1907, the ship was thrown into a storm on the northern breakwater of Hoek van Holland and broke in two. The rescue of 143 passengers and crew members was seriously impeded, so that only 15 people were rescued by the storm.

The ship

The Berlin was at the shipyard Earle's Shipbuilding and Engineering Company in the North of England Kingston upon Hull and ran on January 10, 1894 by stack. In March 1894, the ship was completed. Owner was founded in 1862, British railway company Great Eastern Railway (GER ), which operated a wide rail network in the region of East Anglia and in addition also had a fleet of steamships. The ships sailed from Harwich on the Essex coast, one of the main ferry ports of the United Kingdom, leading from the still important ferry routes to Holland and Denmark.

Built of steel, 92.2 meters long and eleven meters wide steam ship was equipped with two propellers and was powered by triple expansion steam engine, which reached 5800 PSI and the ship allowed a maximum speed of 18 knots. The Berlin fluctuated in a regular scheduled service between Harwich and Hoek van Holland near Rotterdam. She was able to carry 218 passengers in the first and 210 in the Second Class.

Downfall

On Wednesday evening, February 20, 1907 to 22 clock, put the Berlin to another crossing the North Sea from the Hook of Holland. On board were 90 passengers and 53 crew members. Your captain, the 44- year-old John Precious from Dovercourt, was for 26 years at the Great Eastern Railway and was one of their most renowned skipper. Immediately after placing the ship came into violent, coming from the southwest strong winds. However, when the port of Hoek van Holland was safely reached the next morning, walked most of it, to have survived the worst. The ship crossed the harbor entrance and approached the pier. The passengers were preparing to disembark. 05.45 clock Against the Berlin but was captured by a Orkanbö and against the north pier, the Noorderpier thrown. The steamer was acquired two more times by strong waves and slammed into the pier.

The third time the Berlin broke into two parts. The front part immediately went under, so most people were thrown out into the water and drowned. The rear end, in which several passengers clinging, sticking out of the water yet. Passengers aboard a passing ship, the Amsterdam of the Holland America Line, could hear the cries of the shipwrecked. The storm was at its peak, which hampered the rescue efforts greatly. Because of the high waves it initially looked as if the Berlin completely dropped; the still towering stern was discovered later. The nine -member crew of the lifeboat of the port of Hoek van Holland, the President van Heel (Captain Jensen ) tried to approach the ship, but was repeatedly pushed back by the waves. A tractor was involved in the rescue operation. The passenger Captain Parkinson, a ship captain from Belfast, was initially the only person who could be saved. A man named Martijn sparrow sat on a yawl of the salvage ship Van der Tak for Berlin and managed to save three women.

A total of six female and four male passengers and five male crew members were rescued alive. These were the only survivors of the disaster. 128 people drowned (48 crew members and 80 passengers) in close proximity to the shore. The alluvial dozens bodies were lined up on the dock of the Holland America Line. Among the casualties were Arthur Herbert, a personal messenger of the English king, the diplomatic pouch for Berlin, Copenhagen and Tehran had with him; the former member of the British Parliament Alfred Davies; the equestrian athlete John F. Rollason; Dutch businessman Hendrik -Jan Spijker ( a co-founder of the automobile manufacturer Spyker ); as well as 19 members of the Mannheim National Theatre and the Semper Opera in Dresden, who returned from an engagement at London's Royal Opera House. With 128 dead, the downfall of Berlin was the worst maritime disaster in the history of the Great Eastern Railway and the town of Hoek van Holland.

Filming

Film crew of the Dutch film company Alberts Frères and the British Warwick Trading Company filmed the rescue efforts and the destruction of Berlin. In addition to the coronation and marriage of Queen Wilhelmina, these movies were the only Dutch recordings that caught international attention in the early years of the film. The Dutch production company Filmfabriek FA Noeggerath made ​​it into the film Hoek van Holland after the disaster. The shipwreck of the steamer Berlin, which in 1907 found a wide audience in Germany. The Dutch television station Other Tijden beamed the rare recordings from March 1, 2007.