Newly-restored German historic wooden sailing ship collides with a container vessel injuring five

A collision between a vintage sailing ship and a container vessel in Germany injured five and sunk the wooden ship which had just been restored at a cost of £1.3million one week before.

The 43 passengers and crew aboard the ‘No 5 Elbe’ were rescued after it was crashed into by the Cyprus-flagged container ship Astrosprinter on the Elbe River at Stade near Hamburg at around 12.30pm Saturday.

The 121 ft long pilot schooner, built in 1883, was Hamburg’s oldest and last remaining seagoing ship from the era of wooden ships and could be rented for harbour excursions.

Parts of the No 5 Elbe, a wooden schooner built in 1883, stick up from the surface of the water after a collision with a container ship in the Elbe River near Hamburg, Germany, on Saturday, June 8, 2019

Efforts to pump water from the boat had to be abandoned as water poured in

It had just been renovated over eight months in a Danish shipyard where it received new outer wooden planks and a new stern, the DPA news agency said.

Cyprus-flagged 460 ft long container ship Astrosprinter was believed to have been making its way downstream from Hamburg, to the North sea.

Motor rescue boats of the Deutsche Lebens-Rettungs-Gesellschaft Stade, the German Life Saving Society (DLRG), the fire brigade and DLRG Wedel were attending an incident nearby and quickly attended the collision site. 

After rescuing 43 crew members from the ‘No 5 Elbe’ specialist pumps were brought in to attempt to remove the water, however as water flooded in the efforts had to be abandoned.

The scene as the German Life Saving Society and fire brigade attend the river-way crash 

A floating cordon surrounds the ship to avoid further collisions as a rainbow appears overhead

The Gaffelschoner (type of sail boat) is Hamburg’s last remaining sea ship from the era of wooden shipbuilding which was built in 1883 at the shipyard of German ship builders H. C. Stülcken Sohn.

It was built for rough seas and rounded Cape Horn, the southernmost tip of South America, in its lifetime.

In 2002, the Hamburg Maritime Foundation acquired the ship in Seattle and brought it back to Hamburg.  

Since 2007, the No.5 Elbe has cruised the Elbe river with tourists and others interested in its historical significance.

The sunken historic sailing ship “No 5 Elbe” is almost completely under water in the harbour of Stadersand, while DLRG employees are in the process of securing an oil barrier.

The historical sailing ship, which had just been extensively renovated over eight months, collided with a container ship on the Elbe and sank

The 121 ft long pilot schooner, built in 1883, was Hamburg’s oldest and last remaining seagoing ship from the era of wooden ships