The Bleichen has midships and stern superstructures, a deck design that was already out of fashion in the 1950s, but guaranteed a high level of comfort in the centre bridge, as it was less affected by engine vibrations and noise.
Despite its age, the ship is largely unchanged and is in good condition.
The Bleachen had relatively small hatches and tweendecks, making loading and unloading inefficient by today's standards.
With a crew of 22 men, it took three days to load 2000T of scrap.
The ship was to be scrapped by her last owner.
The Hamburg Maritime Foundation, which was looking for a general cargo ship for its museum at the last remaining Hamburg quay from the time of the German Empire, became aware of the ship in 2006 and decided to buy it.
The purchase price of 450.000 euros was raised through donations.
After a stay in the shipyard in Turkey, it was transferred to Hamburg in 01/2007
On 27/04/2007, the Old Lady was christened back to her first ship name, Bleichen and since then it has sailed again under the German flag with its home port of Hamburg. |
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