Last modified: 2009-07-26 by jarig bakker
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![[Ahrenkiel and Clausen, Apenrade]](../images/d/de~ahcl.gif)
image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 19 Aug 2008
Thus the flag by Jorge of blue with the
3 fish within a wreath all white is Michael Jebsen, shown as M. Jebsen,
by Lloyds 1904 and 1912 and the Massary cigarette cards of 1930 as well
as 2 German flag cards – Carly's which is pre 1919 I presume [shows
the Kaiser's standard] and shows all 3 fish pointing to hoist [an error
I would think], and Enochs [1921-1933 German flags shown]. As I understand
it Apenrade was part of Germany until 1920 when it became part of Denmark
as Aabenraa [and since 1948 Åbenrå according to yet another
source] although this is not clear as I read that the majority of the town
voted against the transfer in the 1920 Schleswig Plebiscite and Massary
1930 still show the company as being German. The company, which was a shipowner
from at least 1882, sold their last vessels in 1978 and is recorded post
WW2 by Lloyds as Rhederi M. Jebsen A/S with the flag being shown in Stewart
1963 and Brown 1982 as well as a table flag being shown on the Nüsse
website under Denmark.
Jarig mentions that the flag with the canton was shown by Wolter in "See und Seefahrt" for Christian F. Ahrenkiel-Ahrenkiel & Bena, Hamburg. The answer from Lloyds is that up until 1971 Ahrenkiel also operated from the same address in the partnership of Ahrenkiel & Bene [note spelling].
The comment that the current Jebsen & Jessen had nothing to do with either Michael Jebsen or Ahrenkiel is only correct regarding the latter as Jebsen & Jessen was formed by Jacob Jebsen, son of Michael, who together with Heinrich Jessen went to Hong Kong in 1895 and started up as agents as Jebsen & Co. but in 1909 were also setting up a Hamburg office as Jebsen & Jessen. They acted as agents for the elder Jebsen's company and adopted the "family" crest which is still used by the modern company which spreads over the Far East but unlike the shipping company which used a white design on blue, this Far East logo is a blue outline on white. There has been no indication found of it being used as a flag.
The flag with the light blue field and canton (see also top of page) etc for Ahrenkiel & Clausen. Hans Jürgen Ahrenkiel, father of Christian F., and his partner Claussen started this shipping company in 1910 and owned three vessels all of which were lost after World War I. Hans J. died in 1923.
The flag for Christian F. Ahrenkiel. Apparently the leaves were originally hop-leaves eventually replaced by oak-leaves (Jebsen & Jessen website).
The flag by Klaus-Michael with yellow charges, does not fit with any other source and the dates from his source of 1898-1901 do not fit in. Kludas has a good reputation for knowledge so perhaps this is a reference to passenger shipping only.
The flag of blue with a red "E" on a white diamond
throughout for M. Jebsen of Hamburg is shown by both Lloyds 1904 and 1912
in addition to M. Jebsen of Apenrade i.e. two companies unrelated.
This one operated from at least 1887 with its last ship [traced] sold in
1915.
The "E" is a mystery.
The three companies using the herrings and wreath all give similar "romantic"
reasons for the middle fish facing the opposite way. My guess is that they
all used the prevailing version used by the council of the time.
Neale Rosanoski, 6 Jul 2009
Looking at the website of the skippers tomb in Aabenraa, I also found
the tombstone of Mr.Jebsen.
I was however puzzled, when I yesterday saw a flag of M. Jebsen, looking
exactly like the flag without canton, painted by Jorge Candeias on 13 May
2004. I was even more puzzled, when I also found another one of Ahrenkiel
& Clausen, also located in Apenrade, with a different canton and not
as dark as the others. That cannot be an incident! I have written to the
company to get more information and I hope I can give it to you next week.
I do not know the ratios. The two current flags however will probably
have ratio 3:5.
The company was established by Christian F. AHRENKIEL , who was born
in 1904, in Hamburg in 1950 and is again located at “An der Alster 45”
since last year.
Ahrenkiel and Clausen, Apenrade: It is a celestial blue flag with the
Ahrenkiel-Logo in its centre. The canton is a black over white over red
horizontal tricolour, like the merchant flag of German Empire.
Source: Lloyds: House Flags and Funnels, Version December 1912, p.103,
flag no.1401
Source for M.Jebsen: House Flags and Funnels, Version December 1912,
p.46, flag no.200.
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 19 Aug 2008
image sent by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 19 Aug 2008
Christian F. Ahrenkiel, Hamburg, flag#1
It is a blue flag with the white Ahrenkiel-Logo in ist centre. The
garland however is not made from laurel but from oak-leaves. The canton
is a red field with a white, masoned “Hamburg-gate” in its centre
limited on both sides by a line.
Source: I spotted this flag on top of the companies building in December
2007. The same version is depicted in: Carsten PRANGE: “Auf zur Reise durch
Hamburgs Geschichte – A journey through Hamburg’s history” (bilingual),
Hamburg 1990, ISBN 3-920384-35-0.
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 19 Aug 2008
![[Chr. F. Ahrenkiel Hamburg]](../images/d/de~cfa.gif)
image by Jorge Candeias, 13 May 2004
This flag is a blue field with a rather complex symbol consisting of
a trio of fishes surrounded by a pair of branches. The source is not clear
enough to get into more detail than this - there's no way we could get
species information, on the plant or on the fish.
Now, this flag is very similar to the flag Joseph Nuesse's House
Flags site shows for a company called "Chr. F. Ahrenkiel Hamburg".
The main difference is
that the flag on my source has no canton.
The other main difference is in the caption. It is not readable, but
I don't think the initials have anything in common with the initials of
"Chr. F. Ahrenkiel Hamburg". The first initial, the "stand-alone" initial,
so to speak, looks suspiciously as an M (or, perhaps, an H), the second
one, the one in the first word is very probably a Z, and the last one just
has to be an A, which is the only similarity with the above.
Jorge Candeias, 13 May 2004
In Wolter's "See und Seefahrt", 1968, the flag is shown with
the canton for Christian F. Ahrenkiel - Ahrenkiel & Bena, Hamburg.
Jarig Bakker, 13 May 2004
The flag of Ahrenkiel Group consists of elements of the CoA of the Danish
city of Aabenraa (oak-garland surrounding three mackerels) and of Hamburg
(castle in the canton). Christian F. AHRENKIEL was born in Aabenraa. The
Reedereiholding Christian F. AHRENKIEL GmbH & Co. KG is located in
Hamburg.
You will also find the elements of Aabenraa at the company Jebsen &
Jessen, which according to the web has nothing to do with Michael Jebsen
and also nothing with Ahrenkiel. Obviously the only thing in common of
all the three founders is, that they have all been born in Apenrade (=Aabenraa).
Unternehmenskommunikation Christian F. Ahrenkiel.
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 19 Aug 2008
![[Michael Jebsen, Apenrade]](../images/d/de~mjebs.gif)
image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 1 June 2007
Michael Jebsen: I was very surprised to see a flag like that of Ahrenkiel
but with another name. The version depicted in chapter 16 of source has
however golden objects on a blue cloth (three fish and garland). The company
was located in Apenrade (today: Aabenraa), existed from 1898 to 1901 and
was running a passenger- and cargo-line to Tsingtau, in those days being
the harbour of German protectorate Kiautschou. The companies history you
can read according to source in Ernst HIEKE: "Die Reederei M.Jebsen
A.G. Apenrade", 1953.
On the flagchart of source the depicted flag is totally the same like
that one of Ahrenkiel. There is also depicted a completely black funnel.
So I think, the version, described by Jorge Candeias on 13 May 2004 might
be a Jebsen flag instead of an Ahrenkiel variant.
(see attached file: de~mjebsen.gif)
Source: Arnold KLUDAS: Die Geschichte der deutschen Passagierschiffahrt
(5 Bde.), Hamburg 1986; Reprint Laibach Slovenia-Buch Nr. 03617-8, p.223
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 1 June 2007
Klaus-Michael very kindly sent me a copy of the source image for the
Michael Jebsen blue flag with yellow emblem version and I fully agree that
there is no question - his rendering is spot on.
The only conclusion I can come to at this stage is that as it comes
from an article dealing with their Chinese operations between 1898 and
1901 and the mail contract that they held with Government, is that this
flag version relates to this activity.
That the white version did apply to their ships in general can be confirmed,
for the end stages anyway, by a photo here.
Neale Rosanoski, 7 Jul 2009
![[Michael Jebsen other flag]](../images/d/de~mje.gif)
image by Ivan Sache, 15 Mar 2008
The house flag of "Michael Jebsen" is shown above, as blue with three
yellow fishes surrounded by a golden wreath of leaves.
Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag
of "M. Jebsen" (#32, p. 38), a company based in Hamburg, as blue with a
white diamond charged with a red letter "E".
"M. Jebsen" is not necessarily "Michael Jebsen". which is said on the
FOTW website to have existed only from 1898 to 1901. A website
dedicated to the Danish port of Aabenraa mentions Jebsen as the main local
shipowners' dynasty: "Only one of the well known ship owners,- Michael
Jebsen-, saw the great potential in the steam ship, and he tried in vain
to persuade the local investors and shipbuilders to hire technical people,
who could rivet steel plates together, and install machines, boilers and
pipe systems , but all in vain. Nobody was interested. Eventually he had
to go to Germany to find a ship builder who was willing to built his steam
ship, and since then Jebsen never again contracted a sailing ship for his
fleet!
As a result of his foresight, his company is now the only surviving
of the once so powerful ship owning community in Aabenraa.
But today Jebsen & Co. does not any longer operate their own fleet
of ships! It stopped in the seventies, but if you go to Hong Kong
,- or for that matter the whole Far East region -, the company has grown
very big out there with about 4 - 5000 people employed in offices all over
Asia!"
However, another
page of the Aabenra website, dedicated to the "Emma Jebsen" ship, shows
the funnel emblem of Jebsen as blue with the "three mackerels" surrounded
by two branches, here white.
"The Three Mackerels" is the office flag of Jebsen & Co., and this
logo was painted on all ships funnels in the Jebsen fleet.
"The Three Mackerels" are inspired on the city of Aabenraa's coat of
arms , which also displays three mackerels , but all swimming in the same
direction, while one of them in the Jebsen logo swims in the opposite direction.
For fun we used to say, that the symbolism behind that was, that two
of the mackerels were on their way out in the big world to make money,
while the third one was returning with the profit! Therefore different
directions."
The"Three Mackerels emblem" is carved on the tombstone
of Hans Jacob Jensen (1921-1979) in the cemetary of Aabenra.
Ivan Sache, 15 Mar 2008