Deutsche handelsmarine-seemanskartei und personalausweis
2726 mots
11 pages
f e a t u r e d i t e m(340) GERMAN MERCHANT SEAMAN’S PAPERS
Deutsche Handelsmarine, Seemanskartei und Personalausweis
Hartig Möller was a merchant seaman during the early years of the Third Reich. He worked for the Hamburg-South America Steamship Company (Hamburg-Südamerikanische Dampf-schifffahrts-Gesellschaft, HSDG) periodically from October 1937 to August 1939 as a cook on the luxury passenger liner Cap Arcona that sailed from Hamburg to the South American ports of Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro.[1] He returned to Hamburg on 28 August 1939, two days before war broke out when Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939.
Like most German merchant seamen Möller had the required life and health insurance with the Seamen's Accident Prevention & Insurance Association (See-Berufsgenossenschaft, SBG) that provided insurance and social services for German maritime workers. The SBG also functioned as a quasi-governmental agency responsible for implementation of international conventions for maritime safety and the prevention of shipboard accidents. This document is from his SBG card file (Semannskartei). Although this card was filled out in 10 August 1950, it lists his dates of employment and positions on the S.S. Cap Arcona during the Third Reich.
[pic] obverse [pic] [pic] [pic] hamburg-in-germany[2] hamburg city crest[3]
[pic] reverse [pic] ensign of the hamburg admiralty[4]
When a ship puts into a foreign port, after the passengers have disembarked or cargo has been unloaded, there is much work for the crew to do to get the ship ready for sea. Maintenance and repairs must be made, the ship had to be refueled, passenger areas cleaned, supplies and stores to be replenished and, in the case of freighters, cargo to be loaded. To accomplish these tasks it was normal procedure for a ship’s crew to work within the