Deutsches Hafenmuseum (German Harbour Museum) - Location: Shed 50A

Hamburg's history as an important transhipment point for the shipping industry can be experienced with exciting guided tours and many exhibits in the authentic harbour museum.

The German Harbour Museum is the centre of the freeport on the last and listed grounds of a set of landing stages, the structure of which was constructed more than 100 years ago and has remained the same to this day with just a few small changes. Ships to South America sailed from here via the Bremerkai until the end of the 1960s. The rapid development of the harbour can be seen in the Harbour Museum. Machines and devices which were ultra-modern in the 1970s are now part of the museum.

The PEKING

The PEKING is the most prominent exhibit in the collection of the German Harbour Museum. The impressive four-masted barque is one of the last large cargo ships that was still able to compete successfully with steamships at the beginning of the 20th century thanks to its speed, safety and precision. She was used in particular to transport saltpetre from Chile, a commodity that was in high demand at the time.

Built in 1911 by Blohm & Voss in Hamburg, the PEKING changed hands in 1932 and was sold to the Shaftesbury Homes & Arethusa Training Ship Company. From then on, she served as a school and boarding ship on the Medway east of London under the name ARETHUSA. In 1974, the ship was auctioned off and used as a museum ship at the South Street Seaport Museum in New York. In 2017, the PEKING returned to Germany in an unseaworthy condition, where she was extensively restored. She has belonged to the Hamburg Historical Museums Foundation since 2020.