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This ship has to be one of the most unusually rigged tall ships ever built. Steel hulled, the auxiliary schooner Carl Vinnen was one of five identical sister-ships built by Krupps of Kiel in 1921-23 for F. A. Vinnen & Co. of Bremen, Germany. The auxiliary power was provided by war surplus diesel engines originally intended to power Kriegsmarine U-boats.
Ever since the day they were
launched, there has been a fierce argument about what to call them.
Someone once called it a "peculiar sail plan known as a 'jackass
rig'." Historian A. A. Hurst identified the Carl Vinnen as "one
of Vinnen's freak schooners" while others termed it "a schooner
chasing a brig." Needless to say, the rig, even without the
argument, was not as effective as hoped and the design was never
repeated. 
That aside, the ship made a
nice model in an old sherry bottle.
The Carl Vinnen, above and right,and the
sister-ships, the Adolph Vinnen, Christel Vinnen, Suzanne
Vinnen and Werner Vinnen were first intended for the
Argentine/River Plate trade sailing to the Argentine with cargoes of
coal and back to Germany with grain. In the 1930's the Carl Vinnen
went further afield, being employed in the Australian grain trade.
According to information I had when this was origianlly written, I
reported that when the Second World War broke out, the ship took refuge
in Spain and was interned for the duration. However, according to
Paul Baker of the Gibralter Heritage trust, the ship was in fact
berthed in Gibraltar in the 1940's. He writes in a recent E-mail that "I am not sure if she was interned
here but .... as a Sea Scout, I visited her many times where she was
berthed on the North Mole. I well remember her beautiful Mann diesel
engines that were chromium plated and her rusting rigging. It was a
pitiful sight to see such an elegant ship in this condition." (Since
Gibralter is enclosed by Spanish territory it is easy to see how the
original author whom I quoted could have made the mistake.)
Paul was unsure whether the ship was actually interned. However as Great Britain and Germany were at war at the time (and Gibraltar was British territory one would have to assume that either internment, inpoundment, or seizure of the ship was likely. Paul was also kind enough to enclose this fine photo of the Carl Vinnen being towed into (or out of) harbor. Further photos of the Carl Vinnen may be found by searching the archives at Picture Australia In 1947, with the demise of sail, the Carl Vinnen was broken up for scrap.
One of the sister-ships, the Adolph Vinnen,
below, was lost 23 February 1923 on the Lizard, off Cornwall,
England, on her maiden voyage to Barry in south Wales to load coal. The
ship was driven ashore at Bass Point by a strong SSW wind - a mere nine
days after being delivered from the builders. 
The captain and crew were rescued by
breeches-bouy and the ship broke up within days.
Displacement: 1827 Tons Length: 262 ft (80 m)
Beam: 44.3 ft (13.5 m)
Scale: 1 in 590 Length of Model: 5.875"
(150 mm)
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