Schiffbaumeister in Altona vom 17. bis zum 19. Jahrhundert

Abstract

In the more than two-hundred-year history of wooden shipbuilding in Altona from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century, there are sixty master shipbuilders whose birth and death data, religious affiliations, families, and in some cases company histories and shipyards have been determined. The prosopography of this professional group not only reflects an aspect of the history of navigation in Altona, but also contributes to the clarification of more specific matters such as the classification of new ship constructions. The masters' places of birth and death can moreover be used to gain insights into the structure of this professional group. More than half of the master shipbuilders were born in Altona. Those who moved there from elsewhere were, for the most part, native to the bordering Danish, Hamburg and Lüneburg areas. In the first phase of shipbuilding in Altona until about 1720, however, immigrant Dutch of the Evangelical-Lutheran, Mennonite or Catholic faith predominated among the shipbuilder and shipyard owner families. Around 1795, a family of French shipbuilders settled in Altona and eventually introduced an innovative wooden ship design there. The shipbuilding trade exhibited a strong tradition of passing the profession down from one generation to the next. Nearly half of the Altona masters were descendants of shipbuilders. In fifty cases, the professions of the sons and sons-in-law - the designated successors - were determined. Two-thirds of them were shipbuilders, four sons went into the timber business, and six took up other handicraft trades. Even if a large share of the shipbuilders themselves came from shipbuilders' families and many of the masters inherited their shipyards or came into ownership of the same through marriage, a number of examples show that the profession of master shipbuilder was also attractive for the descendants of families engaged in business. With capital generally obtained from within the family circle - as had also been the case in pre-industrial times - large-scale shipbuilding enterprises were established in Altona, not least of all for the purpose of supplying the family fleet.