"Landrath Küster" - High Sea Cutter HF 231

The oldest surviving High Sea Cutter

A high sea cutter with set sail.
The "Landrath Küster" on a sailing trip
©Helmut Gross
Logo of the Creative Commons License »Creative Commons Attribution - NonCommercial - NoDerivatives 3.0« (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)This picture is licensed under the license »Creative Commons Attribution - NonCommercial - NoDerivatives 3.0« (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

The cutter „Landrath Küster“ is the oldest high sea cutter from Finkenwerder. In 1889, during the prime time of fishing vessels, the cutter was built in the small village Cranz in the west of Finkenwerder. Around that time, there were around 100 cutters from the same type of construction in the North Sea and provided Hamburg with fresh fish. A special feature was the so called “Bünn”, a with seawater filled box on ship, which made it possible that the fishing would stay alive until arriving at the Hamburg fish market. There was a lot of competition with drawlers though and in 1925 there were nothing more than two dozen cutter left.

After building the “Landtath Küster” it was sold to Finkenwerder and got the number HF 231 (Hamburgisch Finkenwerder), which remained during numerous owners until 1960. After 81 years on duty in North- and Baltic Sea the cutter got closed down and got re-named “Freddy Quinn”. After that the cutter wouldn’t get the needed care.

The voluntary association “Altonaer Jugendarbeit e.V.” bought the cutter in this miserable condition and restored for more than five years. Even though drive line, navigational system and safety equipment are up to latest standards, on deck everything looks like built in 1889. To preserve this cultural monument as well as demonstrate old fishing techniques the “Freunde des Hochseekutters Landrath Küster e.V.” association was founded.

Type: Deep-sea cutter
Owner: Hamburg Maritime Foundation
Home port: Finkenwerder, Hamburg
Nationality: GER
Length overall: 28,50 m
Width: 6,10 m
Draught: 2,10 m
Sail area: 211 sqm

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