Local media report that only the mast and parts of the superstructure are still sticking out of the water. It is still unclear why the wooden ship sank. A shipping company representative told Radio Bremen that the 24-metre-long ship was to be salvaged and repaired.
At 3.44 a.m., the fire brigade received a report that the "Roland von Bremen" had sunk to the bottom of the Weser. A good 30 firefighters and police officers then set about securing the ship. Nobody was injured during the one-hour operation, which included the deployment of an oil barrier.
The 14-year-old excursion boat is a replica of a cog found in the Weser near Rablinghausen in 1962. The original reconstructed from the artefacts is in the German Maritime Museum (DSM) in Bremerhaven. The ship dates back to 1380. It took 38 years for the individual parts of the ship to be reassembled and put on display.
We presented the "Ubena von Bremen", which is better known among sailors, in our "The special boat" column in issue 25/2012, that you can order here can.
