Schiffbaumeister in Ottensen, Neumühlen und Övelgönne bei Altona von 1700 bis 1870

Abstract

In the direct vicinity of Altona but outside the city limits, twenty-six mastership builders and master barge builders settled in the villages of Ottensen, Neumühlen and Övelgönne in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The majority of them came from these villages or from Altona. As in the hitherto investigated shipbuilding locations Hamburger Berg (Hamburg - St. Pauli) and Altona, the majority of the master shipbuilders were born in or near the area in question. The shipbuilders of the three villages Neumühlen, Ottensen and Övelgönnehad close ties to the neighbouring town of Altona not only with regard to training and organization. At least seven, and probably more, of the ship-builders practised their profession both in Altona and in Neumühlen or Övelgönne. Ten master ship and barge builders who had been born in Altona established their shipbuilding facilities in the neighbouring villages because there was a shortage of suitable and affordable sites in Altona. With regard to the professions of the fathers, these results likewise point in the same direction as in the case of the other two areas researched. Two thirds of the fathers of the masters of Neumühlen/Ottensen and Övelgönne were shipbuilders themselves who had passed their profession on to their sons. Shipbuilding was by far the profession most frequently practised by the fathers, followed by pilots/sailors and traders/merchants. Thirteen masters had one or more sons who were trained in their fathers' profession as possible heirs. As upholders of the family and professional tradition it was their responsibility to maintain the family's economic basis. How-ever, the prescribed career path for the son of a master shipbuilder - the continuation of the paternal business and the maintenance of the facilities - could be realized by only one or two of the male descendants. Sons who were unable to set up shop in their native towns or villages or did not wish to do so moved to neighbouring shipbuilding regions. Of the thirty-six sons-in-law of the master shipbuilders, only six were ship-builders. In two cases the marriage was linked to the continuation of the father-in-law's business as there was no son willing or able to take over the business. In Neumühlen and Övelgönne, eight family enterprises endured over two or more generations, and one over three generations. Property ownership supported continuity. Nearly all of the masters in Ottensen, Neumühlen and Övelgönne owned one or several pieces of land. Despite the nearby competition, Neumühlen and Övelgönne asserted an independent ship and boatbuilding tradition borne primarily by families. Relatively affordable land and close family cohesion allowed a number of ship-builders' families to take advantage of old and new business segments and adapt traditional boatbuilding to changing market conditions into the twentieth century.