Event    From 6/12/1875  To 7/12/1875

Wreck of the Deutschland

Categories: Tragedy

Countries: Germany

The Deutschland was an iron passenger steamship of the Norddeutscher Lloyd line, built by Caird & Company of Greenock, Scotland in 1866, registered in Hamburg Germany. Built as an emigrant passenger ship.

Sailed from Bremerhaven on 4 December 1875, commanded by Captain Eduard Brickenstein, with 90 crew and 123 emigrants bound for New York via Southampton. Weather conditions were very bad and early in the morning of 6 December she ran aground 23 miles off Harwich and 22 miles from Margate.

There were delays in any ships reaching her and it was only the following day that the 173 still alive on the wreck were taken off.  Once news of the wreck was out men from the nearby coastal towns raided the wreck, stealing jewellery from the corpses.

The poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins was inspired by 5 victims of the shipwreck, Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Hearts from Salzkotten, Westphalia, in the Kingdom of Prussia, who had been emigrating to the United States. Our page for the plaque explains the Hopkins connection.

A wreck found in 1969 is thought to be the Deutschland.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Wreck of the Deutschland

Commemorated ati

Gerard Manley Hopkins - E15

Seamus Heaney unveiled the plaque and performed at a poetry reading later in ...

Read More

Other Subjects

Brian Epstein

Brian Epstein

Beatles' manager and impresario. Born Liverpool. Homosexual and artistic, briefly studied at RADA, then joined the family retail business. Involved in the local music scene he spotted the Beatles a...

Person, Music / songs, Tragedy

3 memorials
Robert Adamson

Robert Adamson

From our Picture Source and an article in the Daily Mail we learn that Robert Adamson lived in Stone Cross, Pevensey, Sussex and had three children. He died on 26 December 2004 in Thailand from th...

Person, Tragedy, Southeast Asia

1 memorial
Mark Gavin Ludvigsen

Mark Gavin Ludvigsen

United Kingdom citizen who died in the terrorist attacks in America on 11 September 2001. Mark Gavin Ludvigsen was born on 12 May 1969 in Rothesay, New Brunswick, Canada. He was the son of Karl an...

Person, Tragedy, Canada, USA

1 memorial
John George Chandler

John George Chandler

Employed at the Silvertown Brunner Mond works and killed in the 1917 Silvertown explosion. Imperial War Museum has a page.

Person, Tragedy

1 memorial
George Elliott

George Elliott

For more information about this hero click on the picture of the distillery plaque.

Person, Tragedy

1 memorial