Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1913-07-05
AS YEARS AT SEA
German Liner Captain Retires
After 326 Atlantic Trips.
Began on a Sailing vesseI---varled
Career OF Hoegemsnn OF tho Co
ellie "oniy Monotonous," 40
cordlng to Him.

New York-To have crossed the
North Atlantic 326 times in full COM
mand of a great liner laden with pre-
cious freight and more precious lives
would appear to the lRndsman as a
career teeming with excitement and
danger. And yet. to hear that grizzled
veteran OF the seas. Captain Dietrich
Hoegemann. about to retire from ac-
tice service with. the North German
Lloyd. one might gather the impress
sion that the life of the commander
of "Schnelldampfer"- the Ger
mans persist In calling beautiful ex-
press steamer like the Kronprinzessin
Cecilie-was about as thrilling as con-
Quoting party OF sightseers through
the Aquarium.
The lives Of sea captains today are
monotonous." said Captain Hoege-
mann, "and the experiences they go
through, while, perhaps. thrilling to
the landsman, are matter OF almost
daily routine Fair weather or foul.
fog, hurricane. ice or blue gales--they
are all commonplace. We have our
work to do and these obstacles mere
Iy make that work a little more diff
cult. That is all there is to It."
Captain 'Hoegemann when the Ce-
ellie noses into her dock at Bremen
viii take his papers and the precious
autographed photos that adorn his
cabin walls and bid good-by to the sea.
He will retire on a handsome pension,
after thirty-four years service with
the North German Lloyd and forty-five
years at sea
At the age OF 60 he is the same stall
wart, erect. active figure that used to
pace the bridge of the old steamer
Strasburg in 1891. when the company
gave him his first command.
With his retirement the German
Lloyd loses the offlcer of whom 1t IN
most proud and the transatlantic serv-
Ice wiz miss one of the most efficient
and kindly dignitaries who ever stood
a thirty-six-hour storm watch on the
bridge or chucked a passengers
youngster under the chin.
, Hoegemann took to the sea as nat
urally as the proverbial duck to water.
Not only was his father, Johann
Hoegemann, an old sea dog and officer
on the ancient tub Union. but for gem
erations back on both the fathers and
mothers sides the present Hoeges
mann's ancestors had been Hneal de-
scendants of Neptune.
1t was therefore to be expected that
when Heegemann's father attempted
to break the chain and turn his
youngster into a bank clerk the lad
rebelled and skipped away to sea be-.
fore the mast on a big sailing vessel
plying the trades to the Orient.
1t was at the end of this first voyage
that young Hoegemann bumped into
the Franco-Prussian war. His ship,
knowing nothing of the stirring events
that had taken place since she sailed
from China, for Bremen. was innocent
enough to hoist. the German flag when
French warship hove In sight on
the Bay OF Biscay.
In an hour or so the French sailors
were in charge of the German trader
and Hoegemann and his fellows were
prisoners.
In 1879 he was at the Navigation
School to pass an examination and get
an officers certificate. after which he
Joined the North German Lloyd. As
both officer and commander Hoege-
mann has made about 500 trips across
the North Atlantic.