Rickmer Rickmers — Attraction in Hamburg

Rickmer Clasen Rickmers, (1807–1886) was a Bremerhaven shipbuilder and Willi Rickmer Rickmers, (1873–1965) led a Soviet-German expedition to the Pamirs in 1928.

Rickmer Rickmers was built in 1896 by the Rickmers shipyard in Bremerhaven, and was first used on the Hong Kong route carrying rice and bamboo. In 1912 she was bought by Carl Christian Krabbenhöft, renamed Max, and transferred to the Hamburg-Chile route.

In World War I Max was captured by the Government of Portugal, in Horta (Azores) harbour and loaned to the United Kingdom as a war aid. For the remainder of the war the ship sailed under the Union Jack, as Flores. After World War I she was returned to the Portuguese Government, becoming a Portuguese Navy training ship and was once more renamed, as NRP Sagres (the second of that name). In 1958, she won the Tall Ships' Race.

In the early 1960s Sagres (II) was retired from school ship service when the Portuguese Navy purchased, from Brazil, the school ship Guanabara (originally launched in Germany in 1937 as Albert Leo Schlageter). In 1962, the former Guanabara was commissioned as school ship with the name Sagres (III). At the same time Sagres (II) was renamed Santo André and reclassified as depot ship. The NRP Santo André remained moored at the Lisbon Naval Base, being decommissioned in 1975.

She was purchased in 1983 by an organisation named Windjammer für Hamburg e.V., renamed for the last time, back to Rickmer Rickmers, and turned into a floating museum...

A museum ship at the pier of the Elbe. You can pay to walk around the ship or go to a restaurant located below deck. Also below deck are exhibitions detailing the history of the ship and other ships from similar eras. Unfortunately, all information is written exclusively in German, which makes the museum a lot less interesting for non-german speakers. Even though German is my native language, For me the engine room was the most interesting part of the museum ship, even though I'm a native German speaker.

Overall, I wouldn't recommend the museum, unless you have never seen such a ship from the inside, or you have a keen interest in the history of the ships like this...

Being from the north I love the see and all what comes with it. So this is from my heart. Nice old ship with history. Lovely little walk along the gullies to gain a little inside view of how sea farers lived. The rest under deck holds a nice restaurant, clean toilets and a museum. A really small souvenirs kiosk is also present. I don't think it is suitable for wheelchairs as we had stairs to climb up and the doors have to be stepped over on these old ships. But it's worth a visit and brilliant photo opportunities everywhere for that family album. Children would love it as you can go right down into the hull of the ship. Little once will have to be watched...