Deutsche Bucht

The tomato red Deutsche Bucht Feuerschiff is one of the tourist attractions in Emden. The Deutsche Bucht is a retired lightvessel or lightship (Feuerschiff in German). A lightship is a ship which is used as a lighthouse in waters that are too deep or unsuitable for lighthouse construction for some other reason. For better visibility, lightships are usually painted bright red and the name of the station is displayed in white upper case letters.

Amrumbank / Deutsche Bucht at its final position in Emden, Germany.

The original name of the ship was Amrumbank II. The construction of the lightship was commissioned by the Prussian Ministry of Public Works (Preußischen Ministeriums für öffentliche Arbeiten). It was built in 1914-1915 by Jos. L. Meyer Shipyards in Papenburg / Ems.

The Amrumbank has been in service for almost 65 years from 1917 to 1983. It was used as a manned lightship with 12 crew members who performed their service on a 14-day shift schedule. The ship lay anchor at different locations off the west coast of Schleswig-Holstein.

From 1969 to its retirement in 1983, Amrumbank lay in the waters of Deutsche Bucht. The name of the last station is currently displayed on the side of the ship. Deutsche Bucht refers to German Bight. This is the southeastern part of the North Sea bounded by the Netherlands and Germany to the south, and Denmark and Germany to the east.

Nowadays, the ship serves as a museum - Museums-Feuerschiff Amrumbank/Deutsche Bucht. It also has a Trauzimmer (wedding room) which can be rented for wedding ceremonies.



Links: Museums-Feuerschiff Amrumbank/Deutsche Bucht,  Feuerschiff Amrumbank - Wikipedia (article in German), German Bight- Wikipedia (article in English), Feuerschiff Amrumbank - feuerschiffseite.de .