101 years ago the steel-hulled four-masted barque Peking, one of the last windjammers ever built, was launched at Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg, Germany. She worked mostly in the nitrate and wheat trades around South America’s treacherous Cape Horn, but also saw service against her home nation during World War II while serving in the Royal Navy as HMS Pekin.
The tall ship Wavertree, one of the 11 ships owned by the South Street Seaport Museum. Photo courtesy of the South Street Seaport Museum
In 1975, the Peking was retired and moored at New York’s South Street Seaport Museum where it was hoped she would find a permanent home. 37 years later, and plagued by high maintenance costs, the Museum now needs to get rid of her.
According to the New York Times, the Museum of the City of New York took over the beleaguered Seaport museum last September and with a $2 million grant from the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, the City Museum was given 18-months to evaluate the future of its historic ships.
The clock is ticking
Susan Henshaw Jones, President of the Seaport Museum, told the Wall Street Journal that she will hear proposals from anyone with a berth for the old ship. The most obvious choice may be her hometown of Hamburg, however after mulling over the proposal, the city has since declined. Now museum officials are distressed in their search for someone, anyone, who will accept the vessel.
“The ultimate alternative, which is to scrap her, it’s unthinkable,” Jones concluded.
Why would you let go? It would be silly to let go.
the Peking was built as one of 3 sistership of the famous German shipping line Leisz. the ill fated Pamir was a cadet training ship and sank in an Hurricane in 1957 on her way from B’aires to Hamburg. the Passat is in Lubeck/Travemunde as a museum ship. lets hope they will find budget to keep the Peking as a tribute to the sailing era.
Only the PEKING and PASSAT are true sister ships. I hope they find a way to preserve this famous ship. FYI, the last Chief Officer of the PASSAT, Joe Braun, is living in Galveston and helped out with the barque ELISSA when she came to the Texas Seaport Museum.