Christian Nissen

Christian Nissen aka Hein Mück (1893 – after 1955) was a German sailor and yachtsman, who served with Nazi Germany's Abwehr and its special forces, the Brandenburgers in World War II.

Nissen was a very experienced sailor, who had sailed around Cape Horn several times and belonged to the international guild of Cape Horniers. As an experienced yachtsman too he got in the focus of Germany's Abwehr. The ghost sailors were an asset of Abwehr chief Admiral Wilhelm Canaris. Experienced yachtsmen trained by his special forces, the Brandenburgers, sailed the northern and southern Atlantic in World War II.

In June 1940 Nissen had been called to the Sabotage School at Brandenburg an der Havel to prepare for Operation Lobster I and asked to find a boat suitable for transporting three agents to Ireland. Nissen had served in World War I aboard the Imperial German Navy full rigged ship Melpomene. Melpomene had been captured by the Royal Navy 100 miles (160 km) west of the port of Queenstown, now Cobh, in County Cork. He was interned first at Templemore in Tipperary, then in Oldcastle, County Meath, and finally on the Isle of Man. Therefore, Nissen was familiar with this area. He selected the "Soizic", a luxurious 36-foot (11 m) yacht from the harbour in Brest Bay for the voyage. The boat was fitted out like a French fishing vessel and had previously belonged to the French military attaché in Bern. The mission was successful, but the agents were arrested in Ireland two hours after getting ashore.

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