The Peking was docked at the South Street Seaport in New York City, where she acted as a maritime museum
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History | |
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German Empire | |
Name: | Peking |
Operator: | F. Laeisz |
Route: | Europe–Chile |
Builder: | Blohm & Voss, Hamburg |
Laid down: | 1911 |
Fate: | Interned at Valparaiso, and handed over to Italy as war reparations |
Kingdom of Italy | |
Fate: | Sold back to F. Laeisz, 1923 |
Weimar Republic | |
Name: | Peking |
Operator: | F. Laeisz |
Route: | Europe–Chile |
Acquired: | 1923 |
Fate: | Sold to Shaftesbury Homes, 1932 |
United Kingdom | |
Name: | Arethusa II |
Homeport: | Upnor, Medway |
United Kingdom | |
Name: | HMS Pekin |
In service: | World War II |
United States | |
Name: | Peking |
Acquired: | 1975 |
Homeport: | New York City |
Fate: | Museum ship |
General characteristics | |
Class and type: | Flying P-Liner |
Displacement: | 3,100 long tons (3,150 t) |
Length: |
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Beam: | 45 ft 7 in (13.89 m) |
Height: | 170 ft 6 in (51.97 m) |
Draft: | 16 ft (4.9 m) |
Sail plan: | 44,132 sq ft (4,100.0 m2) sail area |
Coordinates: 40°42′19″N 74°00′11″W / 40.70528°N 74.00306°W
The Peking is a steel-hulled four-masted barque. A so-called Flying P-Liner of the German company F. Laeisz, it was one of the last generation of windjammers used in the nitrate trade and wheat trade around the often treacherous Cape Horn.
Peking was made famous by the sail training pioneer Irving Johnson; his footage filmed on board during a passage around Cape Horn in 1929 shocked experienced Cape Horn veterans and landsmen alike at the extreme conditions Peking experienced.
She was in Valparaiso at the outbreak of World War I, and was awarded to Italy as war reparations. She was sold back to the original owners, the Laeisz brothers in 1923, and continued in the nitrate trade until traffic through the Panama Canal proved quicker and more economical.
In 1932, she was sold for £6,250 to Shaftesbury Homes. She was first towed to Greenhithe, renamed Arethusa II and moored alongside the existing Arethusa I. In July 1933, she was moved to a new permanent mooring off Upnor on the River Medway, where she served as a children's home and training school. She was officially "opened" by HRH Prince George on 25 July 1933. During World War II she served in the Royal Navy as HMS Pekin.