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History of the Sailing Vessel Salamander
The barque "Salamander" was built in Sønderborg
1856-57.
The ship mostly sailed in the Far East and on the China-coast. After 1864
the ship changed homeport from Sønderborg to Copenhagen.
In 1870 the ship and the crew disappeared on a voyage from London to
Singapore.
Erik Detlefsen (Susan’s great, great uncle) became captain of the ship
1870.He had just married miss Hellweg from Flensborg a short time before.
On a voyage the same year from Newcastle to Singapore with coal the ship
disappeared with captain Detlefsen and 12 men.
A note about the spelling of "Sonderborg:" In the war of the
German states - principally including Prussia - against Denmark in 1864,
the Danish town of Sonderborg was part of the Danish national territory
ceded to and became the national territory of Prussia, when the spelling
of Sonderborg was changed to the German spelling of Sonderberg.
Knud Madsen notes that although the SALAMANDER was built in Sonderborg
before the 1864 war, and was originally registered there, as a Danish
national vessel the SALAMANDER could no longer be registered in what then
was a Prussian port after 1864, and therefore chose Copenhagen as her new
homeport.
Sonderborg was returned to Denmark in 1919, after a plebiscite following
the end of World War I, when the spelling of her name reverted to the
original Danish of Sonderborg.
You will note when you look at the painting of the ship that there is a
flag showing C.K. That means Chr. Karberg. he was the ships owner. Then
there is a black and white flag, probably showing a German eagle with two
heads. If the painter was German, he could have given the ship a German
flag. Because we know, that the ship changed homeport to Copenhagen 1864 -
and ought to have a Danish flag. It is not unusual, that a Danish flag was
changed to a German flag in that period (1864-1919). On the black and
white print, there appears to be a Danish flag. The other flags are signal
flags.
(Click on image for larger picture)
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