In the North Sea, 50 years ago

[jtbell]

Today, the CBS Sunday Morning news magazine had a story about the Aurora, a cruise ship built in 1955 that is now being restored as one of the last of its type.



When I heard its original name, the Wappen von Hamburg, and its original service, carrying tourists between Hamburg and the island of Helgoland in the North Sea, my ears perked up. Could this be the ship that I rode on a day-trip to Helgoland with a group of students from my college in 1972, while we were in a study-abroad program in Hamburg?

It turned out, it wasn't. The ship that we rode was actually the third of that name, built in 1965. It served the route to Helgoland 1966-2006. Afterwards it was renamed the Mercator II and was supposed to be converted to a luxury cruiser for Mediterranean and Caribbean service. But that project failed, and the ship was scrapped in Denmark in the winter of 2010-11.

But it brought back memories of that trip to Helgoland, 50 years ago next September.

I think the Wappen von Hamburg is at the far left of the lineup above, in the harbor. Passengers from all ships had to transfer to shore in smaller boats.

 

[OmCheeto]

Those weird red cliffs prompted me to skim the wiki article about the island. It has a current population of about 1300 people. Probably the most peculiar thing I read is that along with cars, bicycles are forbidden on the island. I wondered why they would ban bicycles until I saw on Google Earth that the longest straight line distance is only a mile.

 

[Borek]

You really didn't have to remind us 1972 was 50 years ago. That was uncalled for.

 

[Ibix]

I love the small craft transferring everyone to shore. I guess cruise liners are bigger than the warships that used to be stationed there.

 

[jtbell]

Probably the most peculiar thing I read is that along with cars, bicycles are forbidden on the island. I wondered why they would ban bicycles until I saw on Google Earth that the longest straight line distance is only a mile.

The whole island is only about 1 km² according to Wikipedia. A lot smaller than Mackinac Island (11 km²) in Michigan, which also bans automobiles, except for emergency vehicles, but does allow bicycles and horse-drawn carriages, and has a lot more vegetation.

We had plenty of time to walk out to the far end of the island to see Lange Anna ("Tall Anna"):

The Wikipedia article about Helgoland reminded me of its physics connection: Heisenberg formulated his version of QM while on vacation here to alleviate his hay fever.