Peking (ship)
 The Peking is currently docked at the South Street Seaport in New York City, where she acts as a maritime museum |
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| Career (Germany) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | Peking |
| Operator: | F. Laeisz |
| Route: | Europe–Chile |
| Builder: | Blohm & Voss, Hamburg |
| Laid down: | 1911 |
| Fate: | Interned at Valparaiso, and handed over to Italy as war reparations |
| Career (Italy) |  |
| Fate: | Sold back to F. Laeisz, 1923 |
| Career (Germany) |  |
| Name: | Peking |
| Operator: | F. Laeisz |
| Route: | Europe–Chile |
| Acquired: | 1923 |
| Fate: | Sold to Shaftesbury Homes, 1932 |
| Career (UK) |  |
| Name: | Arethusa II |
| Homeport: | Upnor, Medway |
| Career (UK) |  |
| Name: | HMS Pekin |
| In service: | World War II |
| Career (USA) |  |
| Name: | Peking |
| Acquired: | 1975 |
| Homeport: | New York City |
| Fate: | Museum ship |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type: | Flying P-Liner |
| Displacement: | 3,100 long tons (3,150 t) |
| Length: | 377 ft 6 in (115.06 m) sparred length 320 ft (98 m) length on deck |
| Beam: | 45 ft 7 in (13.89 m) |
| Height: | 170 ft 6 in (51.97 m) |
| Draft: | 16 ft (4.9 m) |
| Sail plan: | 44,132 sq ft (4,100.0 m2) sail area |
The Peking is a steel-hulled four-masted barque. A so-called Flying P-Liner of the German company F. Laeisz, it was one of the last generation of windjammers used in the nitrate trade and wheat trade around the often treacherous Cape Horn.
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History [edit]
Ekeing out meager existence on routes difficult to serve by steam ships that required vast amounts of coal, these tall ships and the sailors sailing them were the last of their breed. Sailed in the traditional way with few labor saving devices or safety features, her sailors worked four hours on and four hours off 24 hours a day for the entire length of the voyage, sometime for more than a hundred days in a row.
Made famous by the sail training pioneer Irving Johnson, his footage filmed on board during a passage around Cape Horn in 1929 shocked experienced Cape Horn veterans and landsmen alike at the extreme conditions Peking experienced.
She was in Valparaiso at the outbreak of World War I, and was awarded to Italy as war reparations. She was sold back to the original owners, the Laeisz brothers in 1923, and continued in the nitrate trade until traffic through the Panama Canal proved quicker and more economical.
In 1932, she was sold for £6,250 to Shaftesbury Homes. She was first towed to Greenhithe, renamed Arethusa II and moored alongside the existing Arethusa I. In July 1933, she was moved to her new permanent mooring off Upnor on the River Medway,where she worked as a children's home and training school. She was officially "opened" by HRH Prince George on 25 July 1933. During World War II she served in the Royal Navy as HMS Pekin.
The Peking was retired in 1975 and sold to Jack Aron, for the South Street Seaport Museum in New York City, where she is still moored. A plan to return the ship to Hamburg as a gift from the city of New York did not materialize.[1] The future of the ship, which is in need of extensive repairs, is uncertain.
See also [edit]
- Flying P-Liner "sisters" in Europe:
- Padua - still active as a sail training ship under Russian flag as Kruzenshtern
- Pamir - lost 1957 in the Atlantic
- Passat - museum ship in Germany, and sister-ship to the Peking
- Pommern - museum ship in Finland
- Other preserved barques
References [edit]
- ^ Robin Pogrebin, "Wanted: A Berth for a Lonely Old Ship, The New York Times, October 13, 2012, Section C, p. 2
- Irving Johnson; Round the Horn in a Square Rigger (Milton Bradley, 1932) (reprinted as The Peking Battles Cape Horn (Sea History Press, 1977 ISBN 0-930248-02-3)
- Irving Johnson (film); Around Cape Horn (Mystic Seaport, 1985) (from original 16 mm footage shot by Irving Johnson, 1929)
External links [edit]
Media related to Peking (ship) at Wikimedia Commons
- The History of Shaftesbury Homes and the Arethusa, giving details of the purchase of the Pekin/Peking
- South Street Seaport Museum webpage
Coordinates: 40°42′19″N 74°00′11″W / 40.70528°N 74.00306°W
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