Water gauge
The water gauge on the Weser dyke was manufactured and installed by the Geestemünde foundry and machinery works Möhlen & Seebeck in 1903. Its original function - to inform the public and passing ships on tidal levels at that particular time - was carried out until 1973. The apparatus itself consists of a lattice mast with yard and pole, indicating the tidal currents, the water levels in metres (1 metre = 1 ball) and intervals of 20 centimetres (20 cm = 1 cone) by day and by night. A neighbouring maintenance and service house, extended in 1942 and rebuilt in 1952, nowadays serves as a shop in summer.
Due to modern electronic measurement and indication systems, the water gauge went out of service in 1973, but it was restored in 1976. Until 1990, it indicated obstacles to navigation and possible closures of the waterway. Its historical value was meanwhile recognized, and so the apparatus was put under protection as far back as the early 1980s. Maintained by the Water and Shipping Administration Bremerhaven Office until 1996, it passed into the custody of the German Maritime Museum. In 2003, it was given a complete overhaul.