Shipbucket

There are here in the zillion of drawings some that by this or the other reason die out uncomplete. Normally, the author has been called his attention for some mistakes he did and he looses interest in his project. As you know, I have a big interest in ships, a great-granduncle of mine was co-founder of the German line OPDR (which he lost due to the German defeat in WWI) and I live in a city at the Atlantic which always had a busy activity with ships, very busy.

This said, there is one drawing which must for sure had taken many, many hours to his author to be made and it remained as he uploaded it here, as far as I can see he did not correct the errors which were shown him. You look at the large vessel and you know immediately which one it is... a very charismatic one which had a bad fortune, just as the country it was built in and the flag of which it showed proudly for a little more than a year. I took the liberty to pick up said drawing and am modying it a bit, not too much, but the real ship she was in reality she isn't anymore (other identity and no big bow figure which was unique...). She will continue to be one of the main examples of the first "golden era" of ocean liners, and this will be the general theme of my AU story here. Based, as all my AU, on real facts.

Feel free to comment.

SS "Bonaventura" (Good fortune in Latin), of Burmester & Stavenhagen of Bremen, depicted in early 1914.

BTW, in this AU there will no infamous WWI "peace treaty" at Versailles as it occurred but an armistice followed by a no win-no loose peace treaty, because the German Empire, after loosing tens of thousands of lives, came to the conclusion it could not win anything either at sea (against the English) nor at land, in the mud fields of the Somme and its trenches. Germany ended giving up its tonnage race regarding the war fleet, since in 1918 people in the streets began provoking more and more unrests against the Kaiser and seeking a quick end of the war. Germany was forced to give up its overseas territories (except German Southwest Africa, Namibia) and have to give the British and the French one third of its tonnage of war ships (of all categories), of the merchant ships and of trains. And it had to draw back from its alliance with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, accepting a part of the final treaty which obliged Germany to become a neutral country for the future, like Switzerland or Sweden.

At least, Germany kept 2/3 of its navy and merchant tonnage plus railway stock and had no territorial losses to suffer apart from the main part of its overseas possessions for which it has anyhow little use. It had however to accept as people's inquiry in Alsacia, Lorraine and the Saar state. As we know, the first two opted for France, the latter one for Germany.

After 1st update:

If in this blog you click on the ship's drawing you get fantastic pics of the ship:

http://destinodosnavios.blogspot.com/20 ... ympic.html

Those colorized photos are amazing...they bring out her beauty even more!

_________________

MS State Guard - 08 March 2014 - 28 January 2023

The Official IJN Ships & Planes List

#FJB

Removed due to double post. Sorry.

A brief history of the (AU) shipping line: Johann Andreas Burmester, a merchantman from Hamburg specialized in the trade of corn, wool, cotton, coffee, tobacco and natural rubber, had established in the second half of the XIXth century a shipping company with two partners, one of which of Danish origin, Jens Stavenhagen and the other one being a banker of Hamburg with activities in the commerce in the entire area of Northern Germany. With sailing barks they made essentially the route to South America and to the southern US states. They named the company Reederei Burmester & Stavenhagen AG (shipping company B&S plc). They grew consistently due to the immigration flow mainly from German immigrants to the USA as well as to southern Brazil. On the return trip to Hamburg, they carried the goods they traded with in Germany and from there also to Sweden and Finland.

With the years, the shipping company grew to a size of having 46 ships, from 1874 on coal fired steamships. The last built four mast saling barque named then Louise Burmester, now Artemis exists today in the port of Kiel, as well as other units of the sail era, as will be described further on.

By the end of the XIXthy century people transportation from Europe to the Americas had grown to such an extent, that Burmester & Stavenhagen owned eight ships with a capacity to carry over 300 passenger together with the transported merchandise. On the South America line these ships transported also often citizen of Portuguese origin from Rio de Janeiro and Salvador da Bahia to Lisbon and back, if place was available. This fact led to a flourishing trade with South American goods to Germany, after merchant ships with refrigerated cargo holds became available, meat from Argentina and from Brazil became an important good to be transported, as well as several types of fruits.

Travel became such an important part of the shipping company, that they began to compete with HAPAG as well as with "Hamburg - South America Steam Shipping Company", now known as "Hamburg-Süd". Thinking of the many wealthy citizen living in Braziol, Uruguay and Argentina, the shipping company (aware of the fact that HAPG ordered three mega ships at "AG Vulcan" in Hamburg, Burmester & Stavenhagen took the step forward to order at "Blohm & Voss" a luxurious ocean liner for some 2.500 passenger (in the usual three classes) and with a complement of some 1.700 in steerage, making the total some 4.200 passenger.

The dimension should be around the following figures: LxWxB 270/274m x 33/35m x 11/12 m. Total displacement was calculated to be around 50 to 52.000 GRT. Installed power was decided to be through very high pressure steam generated by 46 watertube boilers of Vulcan Yarrow design, originally coal burning, later to be converted to oil fired, when this technology would become available for such big liners. The propulsion was decided to be through 4 AEG-Vulcan / Parsons geared steam turbines on four shafts, delivering a total total of some 55 to 60,000 shp. Speed at full load was calculated to be at some 22 to 24 knots cruise speed.

The ship's general plans were designed throughout the year of 1909, being its stability in the often rough seas of the North Atlantic a most important factor, the keel was laid down in mid 1910 and the hull with the general superstructure and complete propulsion was launched in early 1912 being christened "Bonaventura" meaning "Good Luck" in Latin. The finished ship was handed over to its customers at the yards - after six successful sea trials in the stormy North Sea - with a simple cerimony in January 1913. On March 21, 1913 the ocean liner stated her maiden voyage headed to Buenos Âires, making stop overs at Southampton, Vigo, Lisbon, Salvador da Bahia, Rio de Janeiro and Montevideo. Except for the passage of the Channel and the Biscay Sea, it was an uneventful first voyage.

SS Bonaventura had two sisterships, Bonafortuna and Bonafides, all built by Blohm & Voss and one launched in 1916, the third one in 1920. This latter one differed from her two "sisters" in that the steam boilers were heated (and superheated) burning fuel oil instead of coal, an enormous advantage. All three ships went alternatively for the Hamburg-Buenos Aires route (as described above) as well as for the Hamburg-New York route. Secretly, B&S, HAPAG and the Hamburg-Südamerika line made a deal to work out timetables such as to avoid overlapping voyages at the same time to the same destinations. Did they speak also about the fares, in that reunion? I don't know...

Burmester & Stavenhagen had a very big success with the three huge aforemnetioned ocean liners, making less headlines than its competitors but counting instead on the satisfaction of its clients regarding the prestige of the company, the high tecnological level of the ocean liners, the swervice provided aboard and the safety records, a major concern after what happened some years before with HMS Titanic. Hermann Burmester and Jens Stavenhagen let no occasion pass without making sad comments about the senseless run for the Blue Ribbon to the point of caring less for safety.

In 1919, after the definitive peace treaty had been undersigned, letting Germany with enough means to recover slowly from its huge losses in men and material at the Western front mainly, decision was taken to order at Blohm & Voss three new liners, with the same level of the three "big ones" but a step below in dimensions and passenger capacity. The would be christened "Germania", "Alemannia" and "Bavaria and should be delivered between 1921 and 1923.



(to be continued)

I sense elements of White Star's "Big Four" here...nice work!

_________________

MS State Guard - 08 March 2014 - 28 January 2023

The Official IJN Ships & Planes List

#FJB

Thanks! I took as basis the project of Wesley Westland, who was again one member who spent immense time making a very nice drawing but needing some changes. I went through the entire ship from stern to bow and tried to correct some aspects, ammeliorating others, until it looked good to me. Even the size (and shading) of the screws I changed... Being a two shaft ship and intended to be faster than the "big three" of B&S, the sizes of the blades had to be altered as well, I'd say.

One aspect which puzzles me is: Why do these big liners have the "radio shack" in the middle of the upper deck, between the funnels, and not near the bridge? Do you know that, Emperor?

My guess is that since the Marconi service was also available to passengers, it was easier to have the shack placed in an area accessible to the passengers, so as to keep them away from crew-only areas like the bridge.

_________________

MS State Guard - 08 March 2014 - 28 January 2023

The Official IJN Ships & Planes List

#FJB