Blüse Neuwerk
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 Drawing of the Blüse, made by Johann Leonhard Prey for Jacob Schuback, drawn by Jonas Haas, engraved by Gottfried Christian and Thomas Albrecht Pingeling. (1751) | |
 | |
| Location | Neuwerk, German Bight |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 53°55′19.546″N 8°29′14.485″E / 53.92209611°N 8.48735694°E |
| Tower | |
| Constructed | 1644 |
| Construction | wooden structure |
| Height | 23 metres (75 ft) |
| Shape | square, three storie structure with an open coal fire on top |
| Power source | bituminous coal  |
| Operator | Hamburger Admiralität |
| Light | |
| First lit | 1644 |
| Deactivated | 1815 |
| Focal height | 22 m (72 ft) |
| Characteristic | FW |
The Blüse Neuwerk (also called Feuerblüse) was built in 1644 by the city of Hamburg on the island Neuwerk. Together with the other beacons and the Great Tower Neuwerk, which was just a fortification at the time, it was the first lighthouse in the Elbe estuary and, after the Blüse Helgoland (1630) and Wangerooge (1631), the third on the German North Sea coast.[1]
The wooden frame was remarkably high for the time and was erected in the northwestern shore of the island. When its position was threatened by erosion of the shoreline at the beginning of the 19th century, it was replaced by a wooden lighthouse behind the dyke in 1814.
The bearing together with the 1310 erected Great Tower Neuwerk (lighthouse since 1814) led sailors to the Schartonne near Scharhörn. The northern daymark, somewhat further seawards, obscured the fire of the Blüse on that bearing.
Olaus Magnus already depicted a lighthouse in 1539 on Neuwerk in his Carta Marina, however such a mark is still missing on Melchior Lorck's much more detailed map of the Elbe from 1568.[2]
A three-part ladder under the platform led to the so-called guard house, a small room for the warden. On the platform itself stood the large fire grate. To protect the wooden structure from the open fire, a layer of clay, sand and a brick pavement on top covered the wooden planks.
A replica of the Blüse Neuwerk stood from 1979 to 1994 in the German Maritime Museum in Bremerhaven.[3]
