Bohus
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The steel barque Bohus, formerly Bertha was built in 1892 by Grangemouth Dockyard Co., Grangemouth, as yard no. 163. Her dimensions were: 74,11×11,70×6,88 meters [248'2"×38'4"×22'4"] and with a tonnage of 1653 GRT (1499 NRT and 2600 DWT). She was launched at the shipyard of Grangemouth Dockyard Co. for Joh. H. Soost, Hamburg on July 6th, 1892 and assigned the official German signal RJQD.
She was named after Bertha, the eldest daughter of Joh. H. Soost.
In 1899 she was sold to Captain M. Dietrich, Hamburg, and thereafter changed hands several times. In her great days until 1912 she did a lot of long distance runs such as 1904 from Lizard Point to Seattle in 154 days, 1906 from Lizard Point to Sydney in 117 days and again in 1909 in 114 days or in 1910 from Sydney to Falmouth f/o in 129 days.
In 1912 she was sold to Sweden changed hands several times and ended up with Förnyade Ångfartygs AB Viking, Gothenburg, for SEK 500.000. She was then renamed Bohus and assigned the official Swedish Reg. No. 5903 and signal KBCV. Captain at that time was Mr Ragnar Erik Nyberg, Stockholm. Bertha was bound to the Baltic Sea, mostly sailing in Swedish and Finnish waters.
On January 9th, 1924 she was sold to the Adler Reederei AG (Dönitz, Witt & Co.), Hamburg, for SEK 40.000. The intention was to use the ship as sail training school ship. She sailed from Gothenburg for Taltal, Chile, in ballast under command of Captain Hugo Ferdinad Blume and ran ashore on the Otterswick rocks in severe storms during the night of April 26th, 1924.
Four of the crew of thity nine lost their lives, among them the Cadet "Tom" Eberth, who saved the life of four of his shipmates before he was washed away. He is buried at Mid Yell Churchyard.
See also
The story of her figure head, the White Wife of Otterswick.
Further Reading
Wrestlers with the Troubled Sea, Louis Johnson, 1994
