Judy and Volker on board the "Georg Büchner"
However, recently, the city was struggling financially and maintaining the rapidly deteriorating vessel was no longer feasible.
On May 14, the city sold the ship for scrap metal value to an international investor group. On May 28, the old lady left her home port for the last time, bound for a scrapyard in Lithuania.
And this is, where the newspaper articles and blogs start:
M/V "Georg Büchner" in tow, leaving port for the last time, May 28, 2013
Considering the long history of the vessel, a scrapyard seemed a very inglorious end and indeed, the ship - yes, ships do have a soul - fought against its disreputable fate and decided to go out in style: Only a few hours into its last journey, she developed a heavy list, capsized and sank in 100 feet of water off the coast of Poland in international waters.
Over more than four decades, the ship had touched the lives of thousands of people in Germany's Baltic region. So it was not surprising that the news of the mysterious sinking (in calm sea and under perfect weather conditions) spread fast and was picked up by news media all across Germany. We choose the first article, published by Hamburger Abendblatt as the featured article.
Other news media like North German Broadcasting, Baltic News and Germany's biggest News Magazine Der Spiegel followed soon.
The first coverage in English language was published the same day by blog Germany North.
All articles follow pretty much the same pattern: Elaborating on the long and glorious history of the vessel, describing the financial calamity that led to her last voyage and then speculating on the reasons - ranging from rusty rivets to insurance fraud.
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