# Very cool story of a ship with ties to my extended family - PS. need help with German translation **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 2, 2012, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-cool-story-of-a-ship-with-ties-to-my-extended-family-ps-need-help-with-german-translation/633424 "2012-09-02T06:56:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-cool-story-of-a-ship-with-ties-to-my-extended-family-ps-need-help-with-german-translation/633424/1 "2012-09-02T06:56:51Z")
I suppose the best place to start is in the beginning. In 1883 in Hamburg, Germany, a 2-masted pilot schooner was christened _Lotsenschoner No.5_. And here’s where I punt to the [SF Chronicle](http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/THIS-BIRD-HAS-FLOWN-Rejuvenated-Schooner-Sets-2983947.php) for a summary of the next Century or so of the boat’s life: > [@SF Chronicle](#): > > The schooner, known for its speed and seaworthiness, spent 40 years as a pilot boat before American journalist Warwick Thompkins purchased it in the 1920s. […I believe it was Warwick Thompkins who re-named the boat _Wander Bird_, and he brought it back from near ruin, in the ships first rebirth…] > > Thompkins used the boat for several years for transatlantic passages before he moved to the Bay Area. In the 1930s, the Thompkins family sailed the Wander Bird around Cape Horn [[1936ish short film about the voyage (youtube)]](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjadS07KnTU&feature=plcp) – going the “wrong way” from east to west. He wrote a book about the passage titled, “50 degrees (degrees) South to 50 degrees (degrees) North.” > > He later chartered the boat for trips to the South Sea islands. The boat’s career ended in the 1940s. Although kept in water, the vessel deteriorated. Its original masts were cut off to make room for someone living aboard. > > Harold Sommer, a tugboat captain for Crowley Marine, bought the Wander Bird in 1968 for about $10,000 and began an extensive restoration of the vessel […this took place in Sausilito, CA, and was the second time the vessel cheated ruin…]. His labor of love was made possible with the aid of local sailors. So Harold Sommer is my cousin. Third cousin, I believe, on my Mother’s side, on her father’s side. My middle name is Sommer. He passed away in 2010 and the SF Chronicle has a great [obituary](http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Harold-Sommer-dies-tugboat-captain-on-S-F-Bay-2451835.php) on him with more details about his pivotal role in the amazing story of this ship. When I was a kid and we were driving through San Francisco, my parents and I got to take a tour of the ship during the renovation process. I got to use the facilities and she was a gorgeous vessel, even in a state of resurrection. We didn’t get to sail on her but we did get to walk around as she was moored in the marina, and Harold was our guide. Our extended family is pretty big and he was not the sort of cousin that my mom grew up seeing at the holidays necessarily, but it was still neat. Fast forward a bit and in 1995, the Smithsonian recognizes Harold Sommer’s restoration work as “the most significant vessel restoration done by a private individual in the United States.” In 1998, Harrold sold the ship to a pair of new owners who[sailed her up to Seattle, WA.](http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/THIS-BIRD-HAS-FLOWN-Rejuvenated-Schooner-Sets-2983947.php) About 4 years later she was sold to…the Hamburg Maritime Museum who brought her home as the last of her kind, and fully restored. She has her own website (in German) [http://www.lotsenschoner.de](http://www.lotsenschoner.de) And on that website are a bunch of [videos](http://www.lotsenschoner.de%2Felbe%2Findex.php%3Fid%3D19%26type%3D0) in German with no subtitles that I’m dying to be able to understand. I’m going to write to them and see if they have English versions, or could make some, but being the impatient geek that I am, are there any bilingual Dopers out there who might be willing to dub them or suggest (cheap) ways for me to get them translated/transcribed/dubbed? ---
**Author:** ![ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-cool-story-of-a-ship-with-ties-to-my-extended-family-ps-need-help-with-german-translation/633424/2 "2012-09-02T07:04:41Z")
Darn you slower than the edit window edits. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-cool-story-of-a-ship-with-ties-to-my-extended-family-ps-need-help-with-german-translation/633424/3 "2012-09-02T14:33:04Z")
Curse you Adobe Flash! I was going to try running them on my iPad with the Translate app open to see what happened… ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-cool-story-of-a-ship-with-ties-to-my-extended-family-ps-need-help-with-german-translation/633424/4 "2012-09-02T14:46:47Z")
The part where Harold takes over the ship from “hippies” starts at 4:50. 🙂 ETA in the first film, the history ( Geschichte) of the boat. ---
**Author:** ![Ionizer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5daacb/32.png) [@Ionizer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ionizer)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-cool-story-of-a-ship-with-ties-to-my-extended-family-ps-need-help-with-german-translation/633424/5 "2012-09-02T15:37:12Z")
Great story and all -seriously. I wish I could help with German translation, sorry. I am commenting on the [youtube linked video in the SF Chronicle link](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjadS07KnTU&feature=plcp), fwiw. Really enjoyed watching that! Seeing the enjoyment those two youngsters were having and on such a unique ‘vacation’, too, is gonna make me find the book mentioned to learn even more of those 120-ish days of theirs 🙂 I am envious that _I_ never had a chance to climb in the rigging of such an awesome vessel. Again, hope you get the translations you seek sooner than later. ---
**Author:** ![ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-cool-story-of-a-ship-with-ties-to-my-extended-family-ps-need-help-with-german-translation/633424/6 "2012-09-02T17:41:56Z")
There are a bunch of other videos in German on this youtube channel: > **[lotsenschoner](https://www.youtube.com/user/lotsenschoner/videos)** > > Share your videos with friends, family, and the world If only they were in Spanish, I’d at least be able to get a gist of what they’re saying. ☹ Young ‘Commodore’ Warwick visited the ship once it was back in Hamburg, so his blurbs about knocking around the decks as a kid are in English at least. ---
**Author:** ![ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-cool-story-of-a-ship-with-ties-to-my-extended-family-ps-need-help-with-german-translation/633424/7 "2012-09-07T21:28:15Z")
No love from my new German pen-pals yet. ☹ But I found some more footage on their Youtube page of my cousin that is English and can at least be heard over the German voice-over. Apparently he went up to Seattle to say goodbye before she got loaded on the barge that took her back to Hamburg. ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-cool-story-of-a-ship-with-ties-to-my-extended-family-ps-need-help-with-german-translation/633424/8 "2012-09-07T21:49:52Z")
I am bumping this cause this is neat!!