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Germany : Pomerania

Local services from Stettin, Greifswald and Stralsund to coastal resorts :  Cross-Baltic ferry service from Sassnitz to Trelleborg in Sweden

J F Braunlich (Stettin)
The major port on the German Baltic coast in Pomerania was Stettin (now Szczecin in Poland). The dominant shipping company was J F Braunlich, established in 1852, and, with the paddle steamer Dievenow built locally in a newly-established yard, offering a service between Stettin, set slightly inland on the River Oder and Swinemuende (now Swinoujscie in Poland) on the Baltic coast.

The company expanded quickly with routes to other settlements in the area on Usedom and Wollin and added to their fleet. However, it was not until 1890 when a new company started by a Hamburg-based shipping entrepreneur entered the market with his two steamers Freia and Cuxhaven, which led quicky to the establishment of a new company, Ballin & Braunlich. The new company was short-lived after Cuxhaven struck a reef off Zinnowitz in 1891 with the loss of three lives. Ballin pulled out in favour of his Hamburg interests while the paddle steamer Freia remained at Stettin.
 
In 1896 the Braunlich operation became the Stettiner Dampfschiffs-Gesellschaft JF Braeunlich GmbH  and the first project was to establish a mail service from Sassnitz to Trelleborg in Sweden in association with Swedish interests. The large paddle steamer Prinses Marie was bought second-hand in 1898 and, as Germania, used on the Trelleborg service in advance of the purchase of new screw steamers which led to her disposal and scrapping in 1902. Built in 1877, she was previously on the Netherlands to the UK (Vlissingen to Sheerness) ferry service for Stoomvaart Maatshappij Zealand and had been on charter to Albert Ballin since 1896. Her sister ship Prinses Elisabeth was also purchased for the Trelleborg route by Braunlich's Swedish partners.  Paddle Steamer Freia was also used as reserve ship on the Trelleborg service in 1898

The Braunlich company thus became a major shipping concern and invested heavily in new large screw steamers beginning with the Odin in 1902 and three years later, Hertha. The venerable Freia did return from wartime duties as a  tender and maintained its traditional route from Stettin to Swinemunde. Rugen and Bornholm. She was withdrawn and scrapped in the Netherlands in 1929.


Dievenow (1852) The first iron ship built in Prussia
Princess Royal Victoria (1857)
Misdroy (1859-1872)  Sold to local Stettin interests (W Kunstmann). Sailed on route to Zinnowitz. Scrapped in 1911

Nymph (1863)
Najade (1864)
Nixe (1864)

Wolliner Greif (1865-1869)
Built by Moeller & Holberg at Grabow, Stettin in 1865
Length 39.68 m
Sold to Stettin operator FD Manthey. Various changed of ownership. Rebuilt and reengined with compound diagonal in 1901 and renamed Arkona and again in 1915 to Greifswald, serving locally until 1922. Possibly sold to Sweden and wrecked off the Norwegian coast in 1924

Der Kaiser (1876-1900)  ex- Baltischen Lloyd steamer. (Built in 1855 by Caird & Co at Greenock as Moss for service at Moss, Norway. 195 ft : 189 GT )

Nordsee (1894-1896)
Built in 1883 by G Howaldt at Kiel
Length 29 m (extended to 32.05m  in 1884)
Engine : compound diagonal
Operated on ferry services to the Island of Fohring (Dagebuell to Wyk) by the Fohringer Dampfschiffahrt Gesellschaft until 1894 when it moved to Stettin to the JF Breunlich company
In 1896 it was transferred to the Lubzin-Berglander Dampfchiffs Verein and later to the local owners Josef Bahlke (1906) who renamed her Grossherzog Friedrich Franz and then to Carl Schroeder (1911)
In 1920 the ship was sold to Danish interests and in 1923 to the Aktieselskabet Lillebelt-Overfahrten based at Assens who renamed her Queen Alexandrine
Scrappped in 1931

Freia  (1896-1929)
Launched on May 20th 1885 by Blohm & Voss at Hamburg
Dimensions : 71.9 x 8.1 metres
683 Gross Registered Tonnes
Operated by her builders, Blohm & Voss from Hamburg to Helgoland with occasional extensions to Wyk (on the island Foehr) after her original specifiers cancelled their order.
Sailed on charter for HTM on their Ostend - Dover ferry route in the winter of 1885/6 but otherwise spent winters on charter in the Riviera.
Purchased in 1889 by the Ballin Shipping Company for their services to Helgoland
Sold to JF Braunlich of Stettin in 1896, she was substantialy altered, being increased to 858 GRT
Sailed from Stettin to the coastal and the island of Rugen and also on the sea crossing to Trelleborg in Sweden

Germania (1898-1902)
Launched on December 10th 1877 by J Elder & Co at Govan, Scotland
Dimensions : 84.79 x 10.69 metres
1566 Gross Registered Tonnes
Ordered by the Stoomvaart Maatschappij Zeeland of Vlissingen, Netherlands as Prinses Marie
Placed on the route from its home port to Queenborough in England
Sailed in 1896 under charter to Ballin, for the Hamburg-Helgoland service
Sold in December 1898 to JF Braunlich for service out of Stettin to Sassnitz and also to Trelleborg in Sweden and renamed Germania
Sold for scrapping in 1902

Reederei Spruth (Greifswald)
Sassnitz  (1896-1903).
Built in 1885 by F Schichau at Elbing
52.3 m : 165 GT. Compound engine
Built as Grossherzog Friedrich Franz  primarily as a reserve ship for the Harnemunde to Gedser (Denmark) ferry route operated buy Deutsch-Nordishe Lloyd but employed on the Warnow river between Rostock and Warnemunde
Renamed Sassnitz in the service of the Greifswalder Reederei Spruth from 1896 for cruises from Greifswald to Stralsund and to and around the island of Rugen
From 1904 she sailed on the lower Elbe river for Altona owners FWC Luhr
1905 the vessel was sold for use at on the River Plate at Monevideo, Uruguay and renamed Maldonado


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