''Peter von Danzig'' was a 15th-century ship of the

Hanseatic League The Hanseatic League was a Middle Ages, medieval commercial and defensive network of merchant guilds and market towns in Central Europe, Central and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Growing from a few Northern Germany, North German towns in the ...

. The three-masted ship was the first large vessel in the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

with carvel planking.

Career

''Peter von Danzig'' was built on the French west coast, and originally named ''Pierre de la Rochelle'' or ''Peter van Rosseel''. The ship arrived in Danzig in 1462, carrying

sea salt Sea salt is salt that is produced by the evaporation of seawater. It is used as a seasoning in foods, cooking, cosmetics and for preserving food. It is also called bay salt, solar salt, or simply salt. Like mined rock salt, production of sea sal ...

from the Atlantic. While anchored at roadstead, she was damaged by lightning. The ship lay for a while in Danzig harbour, waiting to be repaired, but was then converted to a warship in 1469 after the Hanseatic league had declared war on England. Between August 1471 and 1473, ''Peter von Danzig'' operated in the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

under captain

Paul Beneke Paul Beneke, also Paul Benecke, (early 1400s (decade) – c. 1480) was a German town councillor of Danzig and a privateer who was associated with the Hanseatic League. Life During the Anglo-Hanseatic War, Beneke overpowered an English fleet at Zwe ...

, hunting English merchantmen with a

letter of marque A letter of marque and reprisal () was a Sovereign state, government license in the Age of Sail that authorized a private person, known as a privateer or French corsairs, corsair, to attack and capture vessels of a foreign state at war with t ...

and securing Hanseatic league convoys. After the

Treaty of Utrecht (1474) The Treaty of Utrecht was signed in 1474 after the Anglo-Hanseatic War between England and the Hanseatic League. This naval war had begun in 1470 using the naval strategy of commerce raiding in the North Sea and the English Channel; one of t ...

, the ship undertook several trade trips abroad, before she appears to have been decommissioned in the late 1470s.Jochen Brennecke: ''Geschichte der Schiffahrt'', Künzelsau 1986 (2nd ed.) , p. 62

References

Sources

* Jochen Brennecke: ''Geschichte der Schiffahrt'', Künzelsau 1986 (2nd ed.) , p. 62 * Propyläen Technikgeschichte (Ed. Wolfgang König): Karl-Heinz Ludwig, Volker Schmidtchen: ''Metalle und Macht. 1000 bis 1600.'' Berlin, Frankfurt/Main 1992 (2nd ed.) *

External links

* {{World's largest wooden ships History of Gdańsk Hanseatic League Naval ships of Germany 15th-century ships Three-masted ships

Career

See also

References

Sources

External links