WAPPEN VON HAMBURG - GERMAN - 1663

The "Escutcheon of A I "which according to Happel was also named the "Empress", was built in the Deich-tor shipyard in Hamburg by the same unknown Dutch shipbuilders who constructed the "Leopold I". The blue prints were started in 1663, but consultation and negociation hampered the actual construction work until the spring of 1667, when work on the hull actually commenced. The woodwork was finished in 1668, the ornaments were then installed, and the ship took up service in 1669. The sculpture work was done under the guidance of Precht. From 1669 to 1683 the ship saw service as an escort vessel on voyages to the spit Bergen and the west: on the 10th of October 1683, while she was on the Cadiz route, a fire broke out in the bows, quickly spreading through out the fire eventually reached the arsenal and the ship exploded. The cause of the fire remains unknown. Admiral B.Karbfanger, along with 42 of his 170 sailors and 22 of the 50 soldiers, lost their life in an attempt to save his ship.