''Ernst August'' was a wooden

paddle steamer A paddle steamer is a steamship or steamboat powered by a steam engine driving paddle wheels to propel the craft through the water. In antiquity, paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, whereby the first uses were wh ...

and

corvette A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the sloo ...

in the navy of the

German Confederation The German Confederation ( ) was an association of 39 predominantly German-speaking sovereign states in Central Europe. It was created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 as a replacement of the former Holy Roman Empire, which had been dissolved ...

, named after

Ernest Augustus, King of Hanover Ernest Augustus (; 5 June 177118 November 1851) was King of Hanover from 20 June 1837 until his death in 1851. As the fifth son of George III of the United Kingdom and Hanover, he initially seemed unlikely to become a monarch, but none of his e ...

Specifications

She had a 580 tonne displacement and was 49.21 m long along the waterline and 55.47 m long in total. At her widest point she was 9.72 m and across her wheel arches she was 17.1 m wide. Her maximum draught was 3.96 m and her propulsion were two paddle wheels driven by two horizontal single-cylinder reciprocating steam engines manufactured by Miller Ravenhill, a London firm. The engine produced about 950

PSi Psi, PSI or Ψ may refer to: Alphabetic letters * Psi (Greek) (Ψ or ψ), the twenty-third letter of the Greek alphabet * Psi (Cyrillic), letter of the early Cyrillic alphabet, adopted from Greek Arts and entertainment * "Psi" as an abbreviat ...

and gave her a speed of 9 knots. Each wheel had twelve blades and a diameter of 5.79 m. The engines supplied three boilers generating around 1 atm steam pressure, housed with the engines themselves in a 16.15 m long engine room. She carried 200 tonnes of coal to power the engines, but was also rigged as a two-masted schooner. Her armament was six 68-pounder guns and her crew was five officers and 145 NCOs and men.Gröner, Erich: ''Die deutschen Kriegsschiffe 1815–1945.'' Bd. 1, S. 108. ''Großherzog von Oldenburg'' and ''Frankfurt'' were built to the same design.

History

She was built by the shipbuilder William Patterson in

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

for the German Confederation. She was launched as ''Cora'' in 1848 - the exact date is unknown. She cost 150,000 taler. Under a British flag she sailed to

Bremerhaven Bremerhaven (; ) is a city on the east bank of the Weser estuary in northern Germany. It forms an exclave of the Bremen (state), city-state of Bremen. The Geeste (river), River Geeste flows through the city before emptying into the Weser. Brem ...

, where she was transferred to the German Confederation and renamed ''Ernst Augustus'', entering service in October 1848. According to Lüder Arenhold, she was "a very nice model" ("ein sehr hübsches Modell") and according to several contemporary sources the most beautiful ship in the German fleet. She is said to have reached 11 knots during her proving trials.Lüder Arenhold: ''Die deutsche Reichsflotte 1848-1852'', Berlin 1906 On 12 December 1852, she was auctioned at

Brake, Lower Saxony Brake (; ) is the district seat of Wesermarsch district in northern Germany. Geography Brake lies in the centre of the square formed by Bremerhaven, Bremen, Oldenburg and Wilhelmshaven. With its position up from the North Sea on the lower Weser, ...

and bought by the London-based

General Steam Navigation Company The General Steam Navigation Company (GSN), incorporated in 1824, was London's foremost short sea shipping line for almost 150 years. It was the oldest shipping company in the world to begin business with seagoing steam vessels. Foundation ...

, which renamed her ''Edinburgh'' and from March 1853 used her for voyages to Europe. In March 1855, she travelled to

Varna, Bulgaria Varna (, ) is the List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, third-largest city in Bulgaria and the largest city and seaside resort on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast and in the Northern Bulgaria region. Situated strategically in the Gulf of Varna, t ...

and the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

, where she was lost under unknown circumstances. Varna was then a logistics centre for Turkey, France and Britain whilst they fought the

Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

and so ''Edinburgh'' seems to have been serving as a transport ship.

Bibliography

* Gröner, Erich / Dieter Jung / Martin Maass: ''Die deutschen Kriegsschiffe 1815–1945. Band 1: Panzerschiffe, Linienschiffe, Schlachtschiffe, Flugzeugträger, Kreuzer, Kanonenboote.'' Bernard & Graefe Verlag, München 1982, , S. 108. * Kludas, Arnold: ''Die Schiffe der Deutschen Reichsflotte''. In: Walther Hubatsch: ''Die erste deutsche Flotte 1848-1854''. Mittler, Herford u. a. 1981, , (''Deutsche Marine-Akademie und Deutsches Marine Institut'' Schriftenreihe 1), S. 51–60. * Arenhold, Lüder: ''Die deutsche Reichsflotte 1848-1852''. Reimer, Berlin 1906, (Neudruck: Neu herausgegeben von Uwe Greve mit zwei Farbbildern aus Neuruppiner Bilderbögen. DBM-Media-Verlag, Berlin 1995, {{ISBN, 3-930541-07-6).

References

1848 ships Ships built in Bristol Paddle steamers 19th-century corvettes of Germany History of Varna, Bulgaria