Global-Mariner

                SHIPS OF RHEDERI M. JEBSEN - 01

                                         M/S "EMMA JEBSEN" of Aabenraa

                                            - Denmark's last China Trader -

Introduction to Aabenraa.

- a once huge maritime center in Denmark -

This is the home of shipping company Rhederi M. Jebsen - and my involvement comes from my trips to the Far East with their latest ship M/S "Emma Jebsen"

During the years I stayed onboard "Emma Jebsen", I went through all ranks as an engineering officer:  3rd. Engineer, - in which capacity I served during M/S "Emma Jebsens" construction in Germany, where my job was to superwise, that everything was in order, so that we could take over a good ship when it was handed over to Jebsen - and the long trip to China could begin - -   

Then at sea and becoming 2nd. Engineer, - 1st. Engineer and finally Chief Engineer - - -

The Chief Engineer assignent was not on a permanent basis, because Jebsen was in the process of selling or scrapping their fleet, - and instead concentrate on trade - in particular in the Far East and - not at least- China - - -

However, - I held a Chief Engineer's license, and when the permanent Chief Engineer got serious ill, and had to be taken to hospital ashore, - I could step in and replace him on the crew list!

That way the ship was NOT delayed, because we could leave port right away, - instead of having to wait until Jebsen found an available replacement Chief Engineer - and having him dispatched to Hong Kong -, which apparently was not so easy - -

And a ship MUST have a certified Chief Engineer on the crew list, - and it is actually checked in every port -, and with me onboard that was no problem, - and we got no costly delays because of this - - -

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In the heyday of sail, Aabenraa was a huge center for shipbuilding. 

Surrounded by forests that could supply all the oak wood and other kinds of timber that a shipbuilder could ask for - and deep water all the way through the fjord leading into the city -, the port of Aabenraa was perfect for building ships - - -

And with shipbuilding you will also have opportunities for shipowners, - and sailors - and that also included the Jebsen company, which was placed very conveniently near where the inner harbour ends -about in the middle of where the inner harbour ends, - as seen on this model from the great maritime museum of Aabenraa - - -

That was a few of my pictures from old Aabenraa as shown on above dioramas from the maritime museum of Aabenraa - - -

Now this scenery is "sleeping"-, where China sailors once walked ,- where great clipper ships were built,- and fortunes were made by enterprising ship owners, ship builders and China traders - - -

But if you take a trip to the nearby island - Kalvø -, you can still see the remains of Jørgen Bruhn's yard, where the famed clipper ship "Cimber" was built.

The characteristic houses that once housed the ship builders are still there, - and likewise the yards administration building - - -

However,- the slipway where once the great clippers were built and launched, can only be seen as a hollow in the grass, - leading down to the beach - - -

But if you have imagination, - and can dream -, then stop and close your eyes for a moment, and try to "see" and "feel" the atmosphere of what once was!

And I guarantee, that you really can "smell" fresh, cut wood, sawdust and tar, - and "hear" the sounds of the ship builders axes, hammers and saws - - -

                                 Some impressions from nowadays Aabenraa.

The old Jebsen office is still standing, although the big and highly polished brass sign with the Jebsen name has now gone, being replaced with a more modest sign on the door showing the names of the people now occupying the house.

This is where I showed up and applied for a job while it was still the Jebsen company main office - - -

And I got a job right away, - not at sea - as I expected -, but as a company representative to follow the construction of the company's newbuilding taking place in Rendsburg, Germany - - -

When the ship was completet, I would be signed on as 3rd. Engineer and sail the ship out in the World and to the Far East - - -

Inside this old office looked fantastic - - -

Like something from the 18-hundreds - - - A solid wooden barrier when you enter - and behind it - massive wooden office desks, - and a conference room behind with the wall decorated with several Jebsen generations staring down at you - - -

I can photograph the office from the public street outside, but unfortunately I cannot photograph the inside since it is private property, but I tell you:  It's like entering a museum - - -

The big, Chinese characters seem to have a double meaning, which is quite normal in China.

The two first characters sounds very much like how the Jebsen name is pronounced, but in fact the first character means a "winner" and the following character means "success".

The third characters means "foreign" and the last one is the old word for "company". (Hong)

Indeed an extremely good and very suitable name for a company like Jebsen.

Otherwise the town has many houses built from money made on shipping,- and of course you can still see the streets where the sailors and the shipbuilders once lived.

In the surrounding countryside there are several big farms and mansions once owned by retired sea Captains and ship owners, but you have to know where to look.

The unique and well designed yellow building to the very right, is also a Jebsen building, but I think that it has nothing to do with the office, but is rented out as apartments - - -

The garden from the old Jebsen Office in "Skibbrogade" actually ended there, and it was from this place that Jacob Jebsen had his shortcut between the office and his mansion "Lensnack" - - -

Today, - when I am writing this -, the above office building has just been renovated, - and has completely changed appearance. See picture below.

Along the Aabenraa harbour front where the new Jebsen buildings are now placed was of course a line of old houses, which had to be torn down in the name of progress.

In one of these old houses was a real waterfront sailor's bar with a wonderful facade decoration showing a sailor or fisherman with his gear.

Fortunately enough this figure was carefully removed from the old wall and saved when the bar was torn down, - and the sailor figure is now built into a wall of the new Jebsen building.

It's new location is in a passage through the Jebsen building leading from the main road along the harbour front to the back yard of the building with further access to some paths and small, narrow, old city streets behind.

Great that this link to the past was saved. When getting out from the passage with the sailor figure, - you first end up in a parking lot, but this place was once part of the garden of the original Jebsen office, - and some of the houses from that time are still there - - -

The first thing you see is the wall with tht three ship's bells. They are the bells from some of Jebsen's legendary China traders like "Heinrich Jessen", "Clara Jebsen" and "Jacob Jebsen".

Aabenraa -

Aabenraa is another one of those towns in Denmark with a very strong and distinct maritime past.

In fact,- during a period in its heyday during the last half of the 18 hundreds -, Aabenraa was the second biggest maritime center in Denmark, - only exceeded by Copenhagen - - - -

It became the home to numerous ship owners,- amongst them Jørgen Bruhn -, who eventual became the biggest ship owner in Denmark.

As mentioned - also shipbuilding flourished, and in the Aabenraa Museum you can see an old map showing the port area as it appeared in 1866. On this map you can count 5 permanent ship yards. But that is not all!

You do not see the biggest and most famous of them all, - Jørgen Bruhn's yard -, because it was placed outside the port area on a small island , - Kalvø -, at the bottom of the nearby bay, - Genner Bugt.

Furthermore, there were ship builders who made only one ship, and then closed down when the job was finished, and also those "one time" ship yards , you cannot find on the map.

There would be nothing unusual if a town of the size of Aabenraa had one ship yard ,- but actually having so many is quite unique taken into consideration, that Aabenraa is only a relatively small provincial town - - -

And they really could build ships - -

The Aabenraa ship builders pioneered the construction and development of clipper ships in Denmark,- not only the best and the biggest in Denmark-, but in all of Scandinavia, and those ships became well known all over the world for their good quality , high standard, and not at least for their speed and beauty - - -

One of those great ships,- the "Cimber" - , owned by Jørgen Bruhn, and built on his yard at Kalvø in 1857 - still holds the world record for the fastest voyage ever done by a sailing ship from Liverpool around the "Horn" to San Francisco.

"Cimber" made the voyage in 103 days,- 12 days faster than the previous record-, and could very well have been the fastest ship on the oceans in those days - - -

It was big too,- about 2800 tons-, which makes it even bigger than the navy frigate "Jylland" from 1860 - now preserved and on display in Æbeltoft.

This clearly shows the great skill of the local ship builders - - - Also it might be worth to mention, that the first Danish ship that ever rounded "The Horn" , happened to be from Aabenraa! Of course - - -

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                                                                 Details of M/S "Emma Jebsen"

                               Owners:   Rhederi M. Jebsen , Aabenraa , Denmark

                               Building yard:   Werft Nobiskrug Rendsburg Year: 1972

                               Deadweight:   7332 tons

                               Length overall:   125,00 m Breadth moulded: 17,20

                               Draft:  7,64 m.

                               Machinery: MAN diesel , 6000 bhp.  - Speed: 16 knots 

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                                        "Emma Jebsen" menu: 

                                        01)  .....: Construction & delivery

                                        02) .....: "Emma Jebsen at work

                                        03)  ....: "Emma Jebsen" at work 2

                                        04) .....: "Emma Jebsen", - The Engine Room

                                        05) .....: Her crew 

                                        06) ...: Life onboard a China trader A)

                                        07) ...:  Life Onboard B)

                                        08) ...:  Feeding the Hungry Ghosts C)

                                        09) ...:  A visit to Chan Lap Chung's Cabin 

                                        10) ...:  More "Emma Jebsen" Pictures 

                                        11) ....:  Other Jebsen Ships and Related Stuff (Featuring M/S "Heinrich Jessen,

                                                      M/S "Carl Offersen" , - and more -)

                                                                              "The Three Mackerels"

"The Three Mackerels" is the office flag of Jebsen & Co. , and this logo was painted on all ships funnels in the Jebsen fleet.

Here the logo painted on "Emma Jebsen's" funnel.

"The Three Mackerels" are inspired from the city of Aabenraa's weapon, which also displays three mackerels, but all swimming in the same direction, while one of them in the Jebsen logo swims in the opposite direction.

For fun we used to say , that the symbolism behind that was, that two of the mackerels were on their way out in the big world to make money, while the third one was returning with the profit!

Therefore different directions - - -