| Laeiszhalle/Hamburg |
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1901
Shortly before his death in 1901,
72-year old Carl Laeisz appoints three of his top employees
as future company managers with a general power of attorney.
His last will contains a clause designating a large sum
of money to the City-State of Hamburg for the construction
of a concert hall. His widow Sophie Laeisz adds to that
sum and the magnificent Laeiszhalle is built.
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1907
With the slack-off in shipping in 1907/08 and the terribly somber outlook for sailing ships and the sodium nitrate business, both of which have been a prinicipal source of company revenue to date, the three company directors turn their sights to Africa, more specifically to Cameroon where banana farming is fast becoming a growing industry. Refrigerated ships are needed to transport the bananas to Hamburg. As a result, the F. Laeisz company buys a majority share in the Afrikanische Frucht Companie (AFC).
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1910
The English Channel proves disastrous for numerous sailing ships, among them several "Flying P-Liner". Collisions with steamships crossing the Channel result in the loss of the PREUSSEN in 1910 as well as the PANGANI and PITLOCHRY in 1913. The PISAGUA, PARMA and PASSAT suffer serious damage.
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1913
F. Laeisz is now the largest privately-owned shipping company in Hamburg. The line's fleet is made up of 18 deep-sea sailing ships yet not a single steamship.
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1914
The PIONIER and PUNGO are the first two refrigerated ships Laeisz has built for banana transport, however, they are never used for this purpose due to the outbreak of World War I.
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1919
The Treaty of Versailles stipulates that nearly all German merchant ships are to be turned over to the Allied Forces, an action which would put Laeisz out of business. The company is saved by the mere fact that the majority of its sailing ships are in Chile at this time. As these ships are to be sailed home at the expense of the company they are loaded with sodium nitrate, a very scarce resource and sorely needed at that time in Europe. The revenue from the freight and sodium nitrate sales is so high as to enable the repurchase of the majority of sailing ships from the Allies. The organisation takes over the German sailing office “Deutsches Segelkontor“.
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1924
Paul Ganssauge, one of the authorised officers employed by Carl Laeisz, enters a partnership with F. Laeisz. Paul Gaussage contributed significantly to the success of the “Deutsches Segelkontor“.
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1926
The last of the world’s tall ships, the SS PADUA (today called Kruzenstern), is launched in 1926. During the almost 100-year existence of F. Laeisz, the company has owned and operated a total of 86 sailing vessels, 66 of which bore names beginning with a "P". The PASSAT (now anchored in Lübeck and used as a training ship), the PEKING (now a museum ship on New York's East River), the SS POTOSI (destroyed by a fire in 1922) and the SS PREUSSEN (lost on the English Channel in 1910 after colliding with a steamship) are particularly renowned.
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Five-mast "Preussen" |
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