Stiftung Hamburg Maritim Press Release – 13.06.2019

Hamburg – The Salvage of the pilot-schooner no. 5 starts this weekend. After several salvage estimates from salvage companies have been received and evaluated, the decision has been made:

Contract awarded:

Lying on her side in silt the wooden hull should be raised with the help of sacks and heavy pumps and made to swim. The contract was awarded to a Spanish salvage company that specializes in complicated salvage operations using inflatable sacks. The first employees have just landed at the Hamburg airport, the rescue equipment is on the road and should arrive tomorrow at noon. Immediately thereafter should be started with the construction site.

Saturday 16.6.19 – the installation of the lifting bags under the hull begins. This is only possible with divers’ use, and this in turn only at slack high or slack low tide, because the tidal current in the swing mouth runs up to 4 knots.
Sunday 17.6.19 – If everything goes according to plan, the actual lifting process should start on Sunday at the earliest.
Monday 18.6.19 – Possible return of the schooner to Hamburg. Joachim Kaiser, board member of the Hamburg Maritim Foundation, the owner of the pilot schooner no. 5 Elbe: “We welcome the recovery with lifting sacks, since it is connected with the greatest possible protection of the historic wooden hull.”