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The Fehmarn Cousins Newsletter Issue #14, Nov, 2000 Captain Bügge was best ever Thanks to Val Rowley we are going to have in
this months newsletter a
Trek to Fehmarn Hello Tressie - I too have now made the trek
to Fehmarn - I won't repeat what others have said, but do have some info I couldn't find out before I
left:
Hans Gluhm Fehmarn Adventurer Stories from old Fehmarn In all of Fehmarn if you were not a Farmer, Sea coaster or a Fisherman, the chief occupation was going to sea. Men went around the World and often had adventurous experiences. One of the greatest Fehmarn Adventurers was to be sure THE SEAFARER HANS GLUHM (alias Glumen), born about 1700 in Kopendorf he started out as a Deck Hand, and progressed to Captain. He traveled to many countries around the world. One of his first adventures was being shipwrecked on the African Coast, he soon joined a nearby English Expedition, during the trip all of the men were killed, and Gluhm alone got off with his life. He worked for several years in Scotland, Ireland and Iceland. He was a Fisherman, Farmhand and Sea Pirate. It became necessary for him to flee to England for reasons that he didn’t want to mention. In England he married (probably an Englishwoman), but he left her soon afterwards. The next Gluhm adventure was in the Mediterranean Sea he spent over 6 years in a Turkish Prison. He saved the life of the son of a Turkish Ruler and was released from prison. The grateful Turk took him into his home and Gluhm dwelt there for some time, taking on oriental customs and habits. He traveled to Palestine, and to Jerusalem, visiting the Christian Churches there. Later as a Turkish Soldier he went to Egypt, there he was wounded and taken prisoner. He made an adventurous escape with his knife at the throat of his jailor. In some unknown way he went to East India where he became involved with a Danish East Indian. They went into business and together became very wealthy. One day the Dane tried to cheat him out of his entire fortune. Gluhm caught on and prevented the swindle, the Dane then hired a nastily little Indian to poison Gluhm. Hans was forced to flee and was unable to take his fortune with him. In England he found his wife very ill and a short time after he returned she died. After he buried her, he started out again and in 1742 he found himself in Petersburg, Russia, and for a time he did various jobs on ships from Seaman to Captain. At times he stopped in Copenhagen and there he met the well-known Captain Gerhard Sievers who also had started out from Fehmarn. They went to the Mediterranean Sea where Gluhm was put in Command of the ships guarding Danish and Norwegian shipping. Hans Gluhm did well for him and became known for not retreating. In 1751 he and Sievers went to East India to protect the East India Shipping Line. This gave him the chance to recover his fortune and transfer it safely backs to Fehmarn. He went back to Russia as a Captain of a Russian Privateer, but was captured by the Spanish and put into prison. He escaped and made his way to England where he became a Street Vendor, later returning to Petersburg. In 1758 he fought against Friederich The Great and was severely wounded. When he recovered he went to Copenhagen, but he had problems with the government because of his wealth, and was put in prison for 5 months. When he got out of prison he went to Italy and again to Turkey, and lived a life as wealthy Turk. But trickery he managed to transfer his money from Denmark to Turkey. To do this he received help from a Danish Jew and two Dutch Seamen, he later rewarded them for their help. He made a second trip to Jerusalem and Nazareth, and studied the Mohammedan religion. At age 70 he became a Mohammedan. You can imagine what it looked like when in July 1774 a wealthy Mohammedan Turk in oriental costume accompanied by two black servants, came back to Fehmarn and went to the little village of Kopendorf, where he was born. Everyone was surprised to find that he spoke the local dialect. Hans Gluhm was home; he wanted to see once more his homeland and his relatives. Fehmarn had a sensation, the dogs barked, the boys jumped and everyone was excited. Pastor Daniel Gundelach of Petersdorf talked with Gluhm and recorded his adventures. He wrote in Low German “and it is a laughing and running thing, something like this does not happen every day”. That everyone can understand.
This
is an excerpt from the (Fehmarnsch Tageblatt 3. Jan. 1996) Translated by: Else
Bügge-Wood Hotel
in the South Sea, (about 18000 miles away from Fehmarn). Hermann
Kruse, born in Fehmarnsund, Fehmarn survived the terrible storm flood on the
12th of November 1872. When the Staaken was under water,and also
Burgtiefe, Presen was flooded, in Westermarkelsdorf and Wallnau the dikes had
erupted, in Orth two women drowned. That was the
terrible night in the storm flood, which was reported in the Fehmarn
Wochenblatt [newspaper] at that time. The
family Kruse with their two sons did seek rescue upstairs in their home; then
they were forced to the top of their roof, when the water raised and the storm
increased. The people in the nearby Ferry house could hear their screams,
first very loud and later diminishing. Nobody could help, because they also
were cut off by the flood. When the water had reached the roof, the storm had
torn the entire rafters from the house and the roof off, driven it into the
open sea with the four people still on it. First
the mother drowned, then the youngest son lost his grip and finally the
father. Until only the first born was still holding onto the miserable raft;
he was driven further and further into the open sea by the storm, far away
from his island home on Fehmarn. Three times he saw the son rise and sink again, until he finally recognized the edges of Kiel. Then the boy was again driven by the storm back into the Baltic Sea. Even then the 13-year old boy was still alert and kept his wits. Then he saw the white light house of the Danish island ‘Langeland’. Short before the coast line he was picked up by a French freighter, fully exhausted. Four sailors had brought the boy on board, while risking their own life under very dangerous circumstances. He was delivered to Kiel, there he settled on a ship, later he landed all the way on the island of Samoa, which at that time was still a German colony. His
descendants are living there till this day. They own a Hotel and named it
“Insel Fehmarn”. There you can hear the old sea shanties while they are
serving Fehmarn cuisine. The children and grand children have visited the island
Fehmarn often. Although they like Samoa, they still had the desire to visit the
island of their forefathers. "Hotel
Information for Internet Explorers - Hotel
Insel Fehmarn
THE WRECK OF THE "BRITISH ADMIRAL" The Shoreline just south of Currie, King Island, has been named "British Admiral Beach" and here among the dunes a Tablet has been erected.
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