Peter von Danzig (ship)

The Peter von Danzig was a German 15th century ship of the Hanseatic League. It was the first large vessel in the Baltic Sea featuring Caravel planking.

Career

The "Peter von Danzig" was built at the French west coast and was originally named Pierre de la Rochelle or Peter van Rosseel. Carrying sea salt from the Atlantic, the ship arrived in Danzig in 1462 after having been damaged in a storm.

The ship lay inactive for a while in Danzig harbour, and after the owner died without having paid repair costs, the ship was eventually seized and changed over to a war ship when the Hanse declared war on England.

Between 1471 and 1473 the "Peter von Danzig" operated in the North Sea hunting English merchantmen with a letter of marque and securing Hanse convoys. After the Treaty of Utrecht (1474), the ship undertook several trade trips abroad, before it was decommissioned in the late 1470s. [Jochen Brennecke: Geschichte der Schiffahrt, Künzelsau 1986 (2nd ed.), p.62]

Footnotes