Scharhörn


Scharhörn is an uninhabited island in the North Sea belonging to the city of Hamburg, Germany. The once most important daymark on the North Sea coast, the Scharhörnbake, was maintained here by the City of Hamburg from 1440 to 1979.
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Geography

Scharhörn lies by the mouth of the Elbe, approximately northwest of Cuxhaven and northwest of the nearby island of Neuwerk. It is a part of Zone 1 of the Hamburg Wadden Sea National Park. Aside from a nature reserve warden, the island has no permanent residents.
Together with the artificial island of Nigehörn the island lies on a large sandbank. Historically the whole area including the reef was called Scharhörn and the sandbank Scharhörnplate. After the human supported formation of the island in the 1920s and finally with the creation of Nigehörn on the same sandbank, the name Scharhörn was only used for the island. Though Scharhörn is generally flood-safe, the banks of the island are not protected, so the island faces permanent loss of land on the western side as storm floods gradually shift the sandbank eastward.
The sandbank on which Scharhörn and Nigehörn lie is a European Union Natura 2000-designated bird sanctuary, tended to by the environmental group Verein Jordsand. The area, known as Scharhörnplate, is around long and wide with an area of approximately. Public access to the island is forbidden, except on official tours or by prior arrangement with the warden.

History

In 1937, the island became part of the Prussian Province of Hanover as a result of the Greater Hamburg Act. The island changed hands again in 1947, when it became part of the newly-drawn state of Lower Saxony, and again in 1969, when it was returned under a treaty to the control of Hamburg for the purpose of constructing a proposed deepwater port on Scharhörn and nearby Neuwerk. The plans foresaw the construction of a mound of land built from dredged sand, which was to be safe from the storm floods of the North Sea and connected to the mainland via a causeway from Scharhörn to Neuwerk to Cuxhaven. The plan was never realised, plagued by protests, high costs, and low levels of public support, but nevertheless remains included in the land use plan of Hamburg.

Shipwrecks

The Elbe has been one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world for many centuries, and the waters around Scharhörn were very dangerous until the late 20th century. This has made the reefs a ship graveyard for hundreds of ships, their crews, passengers or cargo. For the people of Neuwerk and the nearby coastal villages, this was an important source of income, sometimes even legally acquired for rescue and salvage operations. But picking up cargo and freight from the coast and from the tidal flats was also common until not long ago.
DateVessel and description
[List of shipwrecks in 1802|]Anna Catherina was driven ashore on Scharhörn. She was on a voyage from Hamburg to Gibraltar.
[List of shipwrecks in 1806|]Vrow Rebecca was driven ashore and wrecked on Scharhörn. Her crew were rescued.
[List of shipwrecks in 1815|]Lisbon was wrecked on the Scharhörn Sand. Her crew were rescued.
[List of shipwrecks in 1815|]Borsenhalle was driven ashore and later refloated.
[List of shipwrecks in 1817|]Drie Gesusters was driven ashore on Scharhörn and was abandoned by her crew. She was on a voyage from London, United Kingdom to Amsterdam, North Holland. She was later taken in to Cuxhaven.
[List of shipwrecks in 1819|]The transport ship Tods was driven ashore and damaged on Scharhörn.
[List of shipwrecks in December 1821|]Carthagena was driven ashore and wrecked on Scharhörn with the loss of all hands.
[List of shipwrecks in December 1821|]Catherine or Catharina was driven ashore and wrecked on Scharhörn with the loss of all hands.
[List of shipwrecks in December 1821|]James & Ellen was driven ashore on Scharhörn. She was on a voyage from Jersey to Hamburg. James & Ellen was later refloated.
[List of shipwrecks in April 1823|]Fremling was wrecked on Scharhörn. She was on a voyage from Cette, Hérault, France, to Hamburg.
[List of shipwrecks in December 1823|]Twee Gebroders was driven ashore near Scharhörn. She was on a voyage from Hull, Yorkshire to Bremen. Twee Gebroders was refloated on 18 December and taken in to Cuxhaven.
[List of shipwrecks in September 1824|]Ann was wrecked on Scharhörn. She was on a voyage from Rostock to Hamburg.
[List of shipwrecks in March 1825|]Brunswick ran aground on Scharhörn. She was on a voyage from Hull, Yorkshire, United Kingdom to Hamburg. Brunswick was refloated on 31 March and taken in to Hamburg.
[List of shipwrecks in August 1826|]Hope was driven ashore on Scharhörn. She was on a voyage from London to Hamburg. Hope was later refloated and taken in to Hamburg.
[List of shipwrecks in October 1829|]Romulus was wrecked on Scharhörn. She was on a voyage from New York, United States to Hamburg.
[List of shipwrecks in December 1829|]Lowe was driven ashore and abandoned on 28 December.
[List of shipwrecks in August 1830|]Unternehmung was lost
[List of shipwrecks in November 1831|]Vrow Angelina was driven ashore before 22 November. She was refloated but was subsequently wrecked on the Whitt Sand with the loss of all but one of her crew.
[List of shipwrecks in April 1833|]Palm was driven ashore and damaged. Her crew were rescued. Palm was refloated on 10 April and taken in to Cuxhaven.
[List of shipwrecks in January 1834|]Wharf was driven ashore. She was on a voyage from Goole, Yorkshire to Hamburg.
[List of shipwrecks in January 1837|]Fortuna was driven ashore and wrecked on Scharhörn. She was on a voyage from Livorno, Grand Duchy of Tuscany to Hamburg.
[List of shipwrecks in February 1837|]Water Witch was driven ashore on Scharhörn. She was on a voyage from Sunderland, County Durham to Hamburg. Water Witch was refloated on 17 February and put in to Hamburg.
[List of shipwrecks in September 1837|]Liverpool sank at Scharhörn. She was on a voyage from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to Hamburg. She was later refloated and resumed her voyage.
[List of shipwrecks in December 1837|]Anna Maria was wrecked on Scharhörn. She was on a voyage from Copenhagen to Altona.
[List of shipwrecks in March 1838|]Peril was driven ashore on Scharhörn. She was refloated but consequently beached in the Weser, where she became a wreck. Her crew were rescued.
[List of shipwrecks in May 1838|]Johanna was driven ashore on Scharhörn. She was on a voyage from Hamburg to Genoa, Kingdom of Sardinia.
[List of shipwrecks in January 1839|]The brig Patience was abandoned off the Willibank, in the North Sea. Her crew were rescued by Bramham (UKGBI|civildts|7 March 1841dts|19 December 1841dts|4 June 1842dts|2 October 1843dts|26 February 1844dts|7 December 1844dts|19 December 1844dts|3 March 1845dts|29 August 1845dts|12 October 1846dts|30 March 1847dts|29 June 1847dts|23 October 1847dts|22 December 1847dts|9 August 1848dts|19 October 1848dts|12 November 1848dts|13 December 1848dts|8 January 1849dts|15 August 1849dts|8 November 1849PS|Countess of Lonsdale|1836|2