egbert Posted 29 September , 2015 Share Posted 29 September , 2015 Where exactly was SMS Dresden hiding in January/February 1915 after the battles of Coronel and Falklands? Any detail map from the Chilean fjord available? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry_Reeves Posted 29 September , 2015 Share Posted 29 September , 2015 egbert This should do the trick. Click on the map to enlarge: http://www.naval-history.net/WW1Book-RN2-P05-Search_for_SMS_Dresden_1915.jpg TR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trajan Posted 29 September , 2015 Share Posted 29 September , 2015 Egbert, I spent 10 'winters' travelling through that Strait! But I enjoyed every moment - let me know what the glaciers look like. And tell the Captain you really do want to go through the Angostora Kirke and if you are on something longer than 100 m., see the look on his face when you say that! The Gonzales Channel is, IIRC, not navigable for a modern ship, and the Cockburn Channel was mined (Chile against Argentina - or vice versa!) when I was last there (January 1995). If you go to Punta Arenas, check out the the German Club (good Pisco Sours!), the statue of Magellan, and the cemetery with the memorial to the sailors who died on MS Doterel when she exploded off 'Sandy Point' in 1880. Julian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gareth Davies Posted 29 September , 2015 Share Posted 29 September , 2015 Which years Trajan? I spent a few months on Isla Wellington in 1990. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James A Pratt III Posted 29 September , 2015 Share Posted 29 September , 2015 There is a youtube hunt the Kaiser's cruisers that goes to the locations the Dresden hid out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trajan Posted 30 September , 2015 Share Posted 30 September , 2015 Which years Trajan? I spent a few months on Isla Wellington in 1990. Every 'winter' from 1985 to 1995! Back-and-forth, and back-and-forth again on a regular Rio to Puerto Montt tour, lecturing on small cruise ships about Ground Sloths, Patagonian Indians, and so on - but I can't recall stopping at Isla Wellington! Now back on topic - Egbert, you will probably already appreciate from the excellent chart that Terry Reeve posted how the whole Strait is filled with innumerable coves and inlets for the SMS Dresden to hang around in while (allegedly!) being supplied by the friendly citizens of Punta Arenas. And once there, you will fully appreciate the dramatic landscape! Julian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 30 September , 2015 Author Share Posted 30 September , 2015 Wow -great answers! Terry thats exactly I was looking for- thank you so very much!!!!!! @Julian, I will follow suit your hints. will be there roaming the Beagle canal and Magellan strait for 4 weeks,on my way back and forth from Buenos Aires to Valparaiso. Our ship is a bit longer than the 100m at 279m length. On our way back and forth we stop in Montevideo, Uruguay - Punta del Este, Uruguay - Puerto Madryn, Argentina - Cape Horn, Chile - Ushuaia, Argentina - Punta Arenas, Chile - Magellan straits- Chilean Fjords - Puerto Montt, Chile - Valparaiso, Chile and also Punta Arenas, Chile - Ushuaia, Argentina before bringing the ship transatlantic to Europe= 41 sea days In another thread I asked for the visibility of the wreck of the battle cruiser "Graf Spee" as we are 2 days in Montevideo as well. Julian, the only "lecturing" I held on a ship was last year's Remembrance Day ceremony as can be seen here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trajan Posted 30 September , 2015 Share Posted 30 September , 2015 On our way back and forth we stop in Montevideo, Uruguay - Punta del Este, Uruguay - Puerto Madryn, Argentina - Cape Horn, Chile - Ushuaia, Argentina - Punta Arenas, Chile - Magellan straits- Chilean Fjords - Puerto Montt, Chile - Valparaiso, Chile and also Punta Arenas, Chile - Ushuaia, Argentina before bringing the ship transatlantic to Europe= 41 sea days You make me feel very nostalgic... Enjoy, and watch out for the penguins near Puerto Madryn! And if you DO need a lecturer, well...!!! But back to the Dresden, I always meant to look for and read a decent account of the 'search', so can anyone recommend for me something that is reasonably readily available? Julian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiegeGunner Posted 30 September , 2015 Share Posted 30 September , 2015 Happy cruising, Egbert ... and no need, these days, to watch out for the Royal Navy! If I remember rightly, Wilhelm Canaris was one of the officers from the Dresden who managed to escape and eventually make his way back to Germany. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 30 September , 2015 Author Share Posted 30 September , 2015 Happy cruising, Egbert ... and no need, these days, to watch out for the Royal Navy! Mick I am relieved and my utmost concerns are fading...you are probably refering to this report about the state of the RN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 18 March , 2016 Author Share Posted 18 March , 2016 Today we get 2 Chilenean Navy pilots here in Puerto Madryn on board for our Cape horn passage. They promised to show and discuss the exact hiding place of the Dresden and will compare the 1915 charts with modern day charts. Sadly we will pass 2 of the 3 hiding places, Wakefiled passage and Gonzales channel, around midnight, so no photos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trajan Posted 18 March , 2016 Share Posted 18 March , 2016 Today we get 2 Chilenean Navy pilots here in Puerto Madryn on board for our Cape horn passage. They promised to show and discuss the exact hiding place of the Dresden and will compare the 1915 charts with modern day charts. Sadly we will pass 2 of the 3 hiding places, Wakefiled passage and Gonzales channel, around midnight, so no photos. That's a bit early for them to be joining! The ship you are on must have good food... March can be a bit stormy off Cape Horn, but you'll be ok in the Magellan Straits - except winds might be a bit strong... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trajan Posted 19 March , 2016 Share Posted 19 March , 2016 Egbert, I assume you'll be making a call at Punta Arenas? Have a Pisco Sour for me and be sure to visit the Cemetery - apart from being one of the "10 of the world's most beautiful cemeteries"(! - http://edition.cnn.com/2013/02/20/travel/world-beautiful-cemeteries/ ), it has a monument to the men and boys of HMS Doterel there. Oh, and stroke the toe(s) on the Magellan statue for good weather in the Straits. Trajan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 21 March , 2016 Author Share Posted 21 March , 2016 Well currently in Ushuaia. Punta Arenas next stop. In Ushuaia wanted to research local sources about the monte Cervantes wreck here. But local museums are a total rip-off!!!!! So tonight we will pass through Cockburn channel, merging into Magellan straits. Hope they have recovered the 1995 mines. Sadly the SMS Dresden hideouts we do pass around midnight-no photos...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trajan Posted 21 March , 2016 Share Posted 21 March , 2016 Have they still got the old RN MTB's in Ushaia harbour? As for Canal Cockburn or Cockburn Channel (with Cockburn pronounced 'Co'burn', the British way!), I am envious... The mines were still there when I was down that way... Happy sailing! Julian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 21 March , 2016 Author Share Posted 21 March , 2016 Do not see any MTBs, only antique Argentinian minesweepers and across the harbor a DC3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trajan Posted 21 March , 2016 Share Posted 21 March , 2016 Hmmm finally scrapped or sunk then! Is the DC3 on the old airfield? Usually one or two 'plane wrecks around there! But I am off-topic, apologies... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corisande Posted 21 March , 2016 Share Posted 21 March , 2016 I was on a small expedition ship down that coast of Chile last year. We passed over the site of the Battle of Coronel - my notes on it In truth there was nothing to see, nor would I expect to see anything for any of the surviving ships of that battle along that coast (though it does have a couple of spectacular shipwrecks that you want to look out for here click and here click These waters are still very dangerous, the Navimag Ferry, which does the fijords every week, was wrecked in the narrows last year (hauled off in Sep 2015, a few weeks before we went through, and sunk out at sea) I have no idea if Ushuaia would welcome German ships today, but they are not keen on anything British Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trajan Posted 21 March , 2016 Share Posted 21 March , 2016 I was on a small expedition ship down that coast of Chile last year. ,,, I have no idea if Ushuaia would welcome German ships today, but they are not keen on anything British Amazing! I was first and second time there in 1984/85 and then at least twice every one of our northern winters until 1994/1995. First many times, no problems at all, honestly - just a sense of 'Well, 1982 was an needless event, brought about by two megalomaniac leaders - and it is now over'. And really nothing otherwise at all up to about 1992/3 when the 'Los Malvinas son Argentinas' sign appeared on the headland overlooking the harbour. I can only assume a more nationalistic major was (and is) in charge. Such a shame - the people I knew there at the time were not that hostile... Apologies again Egbert for going off-track... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 22 March , 2016 Author Share Posted 22 March , 2016 I saw some antique MBTs when we left the pier. If they represent the state of the RN than good night from tierra del fuego: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 22 March , 2016 Author Share Posted 22 March , 2016 Or these ones? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 22 March , 2016 Author Share Posted 22 March , 2016 Anyway, we made it tonight through Cockburn passage and no mines hit us. Today in Punta Arenas where the Dresden was allowed to stay for 72 hours before the hide and seek action started with the help of local pilots from this town. Seldom in modern times has there been a search so protracted and vexatious to British arms.docx SMS Dresden Karte.docx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaeldr Posted 22 March , 2016 Share Posted 22 March , 2016 Egbert, I could not open the doc which you posted above and therefore cannot comment I can however offer the following links which may be useful see http://www.naval-review.com/issues/1910s/1915-3.pdf#Page%3D68&View%3DFit and in particular pages 412 to 438 for extracts from the Dresden's log plus comments pages 439/440 for the sinking of the Dresden see http://www.naval-review.com/issues/1910s/1916-1.pdf#Page%3D77&View%3DFit and in particular pages 77 to 84 for an account of the search for and destruction of the Dresden Good luck Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 23 March , 2016 Author Share Posted 23 March , 2016 Michael, the doc should be ok to download, I doublechecked..... it is a great complementation to the British point of view. The Locations where Dresden hid is breathtaking. 2000m snowcoverd peaks , glaciers that calv and a zillion of sidefjords and other mainfjords, curving around and covering any ship that wants to disguise. A spectacular area too large to find a ship all uninhabitated, where probably no man ever set foot to. zillion of big and small islands... So I traced and indeed followed the majority of Dresdens paths and hideouts. but the light sadly was too bad to take pictures. Most places were visited after sunset. I will try to post a couple of pictures from "the SMS Dresden bridge" as they saw the straits when they sailed 1915 to first hideout "Barbara Channal and Gonzales Channal" when viewing the pictures-cross fingers the ships satellite antenna find a satellite and the bandwith is sufficient good to upload a view pictures- it is best to open the above attached doc with the 1915 map..... First pictures a snippet from within the Beagle channel- even today no ship or human being visible Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 23 March , 2016 Author Share Posted 23 March , 2016 This is a Dresden bridge view after leaving Punta Arenas and sailing south through Magellan Straits. The straits constantly narrows and widens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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