Ahoy - Mac's Web Log

Dear Mac,

I am looking for any information re German ships or crews interned in WW1 in the Port of Brisbane. Could you possibly point me in the right direction to find such information? My partners Grandfather was a apparently a German crewman from an interned German ship in Brisbane at the commencement of hostilities in 1914 and she is seeking further background information.

We would appreciate any and all assistance that you could supply in this endeavor. 

Sincerely
Daryl Wease

Daryl,

I can only find two German Merchant ships seized in Brisbane in 1914, they are: SS Cannstatt of 5,930 tons built in 1913, renamed Bakara, some details below.
 
Bakara  1913  built by Flensburger Schiffsbau Gesellschaft, Flensburg | ex- Cannstatt, 1925 purchased from Deutsch Australische DG renamed Bakara, 1925 renamed Witell, 1925/1926 transferred to Norddeutscher Lloyd not renamed, 1937 sold to Hamburg Sudamerikanische DG renamed Rosario, 1946 to Denmark, 1948 sold to Finland renamed Albertina, 1950 sold renamed Kotka, 1956 with obsolete ammunition sunk in Atlantic.
 
The second ship was SS Osnabruck of 4,240 tons built in 1907, renamed Calulu, sold in 1921 to Union Steamship Company of New Zealand and renamed Waiotapu.

During the First World War 6,890 Germans were interned, of whom 4,500 were Australian residents before 1914; the rest were sailors from German navy ships or merchant ships who were arrested while in Australian ports when the war broke out, or German citizens living in British territories in South-East Asia and transported to Australia at the request of the British Government. Some internees were temporary visitors trapped here when the war began. About 1,100 of the total were Austro-Hungarians, and of those around 700 were Serbs, Croats and Dalmatians from within the Austro-Hungarian Empire who were working in mines in Western Australia.

Regards, 
Mac.

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