View source for Neuwerk

{{short description|Wadden Sea island on the German North Sea coast}}
{{distinguish|Newark (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox islands
| name                              = Neuwerk
| image_name                        = 11-09-04-fotoflug-nordsee-by-RalfR-001.jpg
| image_caption                     = Neuwerk
| image_size                        = 250px
| map                               = Germany
| image_map                         = Hamburg_Mitte_Insel_Neuwerk.svg
| image_map_caption                 = Location of Neuwerk, Scharhörn and Nigehörn in Hamburg-Mitte
| native_name                       = 
| native_name_link                  = 
| nickname                          = 
| location                          = [[North Sea]], [[Elbe|Elbe mouth]]
| coordinates                       = {{coord|53|55|N|8|30|E|region:DE_type:isle|display=title,inline}}
| archipelago                       = 
| total_islands                     = 
| major_islands                     = 
| area_km2                          = 3
| length_km                         = 
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| highest_mount                     = 
| elevation_m                       = 
| country                           = Germany
| country_admin_divisions_title     = [[States of Germany|State]]
| country_admin_divisions           = Hamburg
| country_admin_divisions_title_1   = [[Boroughs and quarters of Hamburg|Borough]]
| country_admin_divisions_1         = Hamburg-Mitte
| country_admin_divisions_title_2   = 
| country_admin_divisions_2         = 
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| country_1                         = 
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| country_1_admin_divisions         = 
| country_1_admin_divisions_title_1 = 
| country_1_admin_divisions_1       = 
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| country_1_largest_city            = 
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| country_1_leader_title            = 
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| population                        = {{Metadata Population DE-HH|Neuwerk}}
| population_as_of                  = {{Population Germany|key=02|datref=STAND}}
| population_footnotes              = <ref>{{Population Germany|key=02|datref=QUELLE}}</ref>
| density_km2                       = 7
| ethnic_groups                     = 
| additional_info                   = 
}}

'''Neuwerk''' ({{IPA|de|ˌnɔʏˈvɛʁk|-|De-Neuwerk.ogg}}; {{langx|nds|Neewark}}; ''[[Archaic English]]'': '''New Werk'''<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=a7QBAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA200 The New Seaman's Guide, and Coaster's Companion], Cornhill, 1809</ref> or '''Newark'''<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=I7BWAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA332 ''Proserpine Frigate&nbsp;– Official Account of the Loss of that Ship'']; a letter addressed by Captain Wallis to Vice Admiral Dickson; Feb 18, 1799; "The Naval Chronicle"; January–June 1799; (Bunney & Gold, London); pp. 332–335.</ref>) is a {{cvt|3|km2|sqmi}} [[tidal island]] in the [[Wadden Sea]]  ("Mudflat Sea") a marginal part of [[North Sea]] along the German coast. The population in 2023 was 21. Neuwerk is located {{cvt|13|km|0}} northwest of [[Cuxhaven]], between the [[Weser]] and [[Elbe]] estuaries. The distance to the centre of Hamburg is about {{cvt|120|km|-1}}.

Administratively, Neuwerk forms a homonymous [[Quarter (urban subdivision)|quarter]] of the city and state of [[Hamburg]], Germany, and is part of the borough [[Hamburg-Mitte]]. This quarter includes the islands of [[Scharhörn]] and [[Nigehörn]], which are bird sanctuaries and closed to the public. All three islands and the Wadden Sea around them form the [[Hamburg Wadden Sea National Park]].

Dikes encircle the island, which is about {{convert|3|km2|abbr=off}}, and one can walk around it in an hour. Salt marshes (the "Outland"), lie outside the dikes and provide a hatchery for birds such as [[Eurasian oystercatcher|oystercatchers]], [[Common tern|common terns]], [[sandwich tern]]s, [[black-headed gull]], [[European herring gull|herring gulls]], and others. During the summer farmers may pasture cows and horses on the northern Outland.

[[File:Wattwagen, Rettungsbake.JPG|thumb|upright|Mudflat car with day trippers in the Sahlenburger Watt near Cuxhaven, on the way to the Neuwerk|250px]]
At low [[tide]] one can reach the island on foot or on a Wattwagen, a horse-drawn mud flat coach, from Cuxhaven. A row of poles on the mud flats marks the way. The path includes some elevated cages. These are rescue pods. Should high tide catch a walker far from shore, the walker can climb into the pod and wait for the tide to recede, or trigger a flare. Triggering the flare summons a rescue boat; rescue involves a fee and non-negligible fine.

During the summer the vessel MS ''Flipper'' makes a daily trip at high tide from the "Alte Liebe" port in Cuxhaven to the island. Because departure times depend on the tides, the times are variable. The trip takes about an hour and a half one-way.

One may, for a small fee, visit and ascend the [[Great Tower Neuwerk|lighthouse]] to a viewing platform. This provides a view of the coast and the entire island. There is a small hotel with seven guest rooms inside the lighthouse, and a hostel in a building next to the tower. Near the lighthouse there is the "graveyard of the nameless". This is a resting place for the dead bodies that in past years washed ashore. Today, bodies washed ashore are transferred to the continent.

== History ==
[[File:Leuchtturm Neuwerk 2018.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Great Tower Neuwerk|Neuwerk lighthouse]] of 1369.]]
[[File:13-09-29-nordfriesisches-wattenmeer-RalfR-15.jpg|thumb|In this aerial picture, the island Neuwerk appears in green.]]

Because the Elbe was vital to Hamburg, a member of the [[Hanseatic League]], the city's merchants with those from Bremen and Stade obtained the permission (a deed of 24 April 1286<ref>The deed documented a contract between the Saxon dukes and Bremen's Prince-Archbishop {{Interlanguage link multi|Gilbert of Brunckhorst|de|3=Giselbert von Brunkhorst}} as to the jurisdiction and taxation over the island today named Neuwerk, which at that time was a seasonal hot spot of herring fishery and sale by merchants from Bremen, Hamburg and Stade, the permission was granted without Hamburg being a contractual party.</ref>) from [[Albert II, Duke of Saxony]] and his minor nephews [[Albert III, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg|Albert III]], [[Eric I, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg|Eric I]] and [[John II, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg|John II]], altogether co-ruling feudal lords of the [[Land of Hadeln]] of which Neuwerk formed a part then, to maintain a permanent fire on a mud flat island, then named ''O'' or ''Nige O'', in the mouth of the Elbe.<ref name="Ferber 1909 17">Kurt Ferber, „Der Turm und das Leuchtfeuer auf Neuwerk“, in: ''Zeitschrift des Vereins für Hamburgische Geschichte'', vol. XIV (1909), pp. 1–36, here p.&nbsp;17.</ref>

On 1 November 1299 Albert III and John II allowed the Hamburg and other seafaring merchants to build a fortified tower, named the ''new work'' (Neuwerk).<ref name="Ferber 1909 18">Kurt Ferber, „Der Turm und das Leuchtfeuer auf Neuwerk“, in: ''Zeitschrift des Vereins für Hamburgische Geschichte'', vol. XIV (1909), pp. 1–36, here p.&nbsp;18.</ref> Right after work commenced on a {{convert|35|m|ft|adj=mid|-high}} [[watchtower]] that could act as a [[daymark]]; the tower was completed in 1310.<ref>{{cite web|title=Neuwerk Lighthouse|url=http://www.lighthousedigest.com/digest/database/uniquelighthouse.cfm?value=1318|website=Lighthouse Digest|access-date=30 August 2014}}</ref> After its completion, an alderman and ten men-at-arms seized the tower. The oldest existing document that mentions Neuwerk is a Frisian contract of 1316. This document uses the island's old name of ''Nige O''.

The current tower dates to 1367, 1369, or 1377 (accounts vary), built after a fire destroyed its wooden predecessor. The tower is Hamburg's oldest existing building as well as the last remainder of Hamburg's fortifications.

In 1648 the tower received a beacon fire that was lit at night. The tower was converted into a lighthouse in 1814. Still, the island was the site of numerous shipwrecks.

During World War I, a shell destroyed the beacon and its signalling apparatus. On 3 September 1915 lightning struck the  [[Zeppelin P Class|Zeppelin LZ&nbsp;40 (L&nbsp;10)]], causing it to crash into the North Sea near Neuwerk, with the loss of the entire 20-man crew.

Due to the [[Gesetz über Groß-Hamburg und andere Gebietsbereinigungen|Greater Hamburg Law]] Neuwerk became part of [[Prussia]] in 1937, and thus after [[World War II]] it became part of the new state of [[Lower Saxony]].

In 1946 an 18&nbsp;kW [[wind turbine]], {{convert|15|m|ft}} in diameter, installed to economize on diesel fuel, helped power the lighthouse and residences on the island. This installation ran for around 20 years before a submarine cable to the mainland replaced it.<ref>Dimitri R. Stein, "Pioneer in the North Sea: 1946 Insel Neuwerk Turbine", in ''IEEE Power and Energy Magazine'', September/October 2009, pp. 62-68.</ref>

In 1969 Hamburg waived older rights on harbour estate in Cuxhaven in favour of Neuwerk and Scharhörn.<ref>Law about the agreement with the state Lower Saxony ... [http://hh.juris.de/hh/gesamt/NeuOCuxNDStVtrDAbkG_HA.htm#NeuOCuxNDStVtrDAbkG_HA_rahmen]{{Dead link|date=April 2020|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}} {{in lang|de}}</ref>

== Shipwrecks ==

[[File:HMS Proserpine (1777) wrecked.jpg|thumb|Escape from HMS Proserpine to Neuwerk (1799)]]
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Shipwrecks near Neuwerk (see also near [[Scharhörn#Shipwrecks|Scharhörn]])
! data-sort-type="date" | Date
! data-sort-type="text" | Vessel and description
|-
| [[List of shipwrecks in 1799#1 February|{{dts|1 February 1799}}]] || {{HMS|Proserpine|1777|6}} stranded in thick ice and snow on the Scharhörn Reef, about 6 miles from Neuwerk. Among the 187 crew and passengers was the British envoy [[Thomas Grenville]], on a diplomatic mission to Berlin via Cuxhaven. Fourteen people died during the escape from the wreck over the Wadden Sea and ice to Neuwerk. In a repeated attempt to retrieve bread from the vessel a few days later a small party of five got trapped aboard the crushed remains of the [[frigate]] and floated back to the open sea. Thirty-six hours later ''Proserpine'' stranded again near [[Baltrum]] Island, where they reached safety again; the wreck remained.
|-
| [[List of shipwrecks in 1817#25 November|{{dts|25 November 1817}}]] || ''Scots Craig'' was wrecked in the North Sea off Neuwerk with the loss of a crew member.
|-
| [[List of shipwrecks in 1819#4 February|{{dts|4 February 1819}}]] || ''George'' ran aground off Neuwerk. She was on a voyage from Hamburg to Hull, Yorkshire. (Neuwerk, Schleswig?)
|-
| [[List of shipwrecks in 1820#23 July|{{dts|23 July 1820}}]] || ''Cynthia'' was driven ashore
|-
| [[List of shipwrecks in 1821#5 December|{{dts|5 December 1821}}]] || ''Ann'' and/or ''Manchester'' was driven ashore and wrecked
|-
| [[List of shipwrecks in 1823#10 December|{{dts|10 December 1823}}]] || ''London'' was wrecked on Neuwerk. Her crew were rescued.
|-
| [[List of shipwrecks in 1827#18 March|{{dts|18 March 1827}}]] || ''George'' (Corrna) was lost
|-
| [[List of shipwrecks in 1827#22 February|{{dts|22 February 1827}}]] || ''Apollo'' and ''Charlotte'' ran aground. They were sailing from [[Sunderland, County Durham]], to Hamburg.
|-
| [[List of shipwrecks in 1827#9 November|{{dts|9 November 1827}}]] || ''Egir'' was stranded between Neuwerk and [[Duhnen]]
|-
| [[List of shipwrecks in 1829#16 October|{{dts|16 October 1829}}]] || ''Shubenacadie'' capsized
|-
| [[List of shipwrecks in 1831#18 November|{{dts|18 November 1831}}]] || ''Union'' foundered off Neuwerk. Six of her crew were rescued.
|-
| [[List of shipwrecks in 1833#16 June|{{dts|16 June 1833}}]] || ''Frau Christine'' was driven ashore.<ref name=CM290633>{{Cite news |title=Shipping Intelligence |newspaper=Caledonian Mercury |date=29 June 1833 |issue=17469 }}</ref>
|-
| [[List of shipwrecks in 1932#14 December|{{dts|14 December 1932}}]] || ''Hosianna'' caught fire and sank in the North Sea off Neuwerk
|-
| {{dts|18 July 1989}} || 120 barrels of toxic [[Epichlorohydrin]] spilled onboard of ''[[Oostzee (1980)|Oostzee]]'' off Neuwerk, 17 died years later of cancer
|}

== Demographics ==
On 31 December 2007, Neuwerk quarter had 39 inhabitants, 26 female and 13 males. 11 were resident aliens.<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.statistik-nord.de/uploads/tx_standocuments/A_I_1_j07_H.pdf |title=Statistische Berichte A I 1 – j/07 H |date=2008-09-11 |access-date=2009-10-31 |publisher=Statistisches Amt für Hamburg und Schleswig-Holstein |language=de}}</ref>

== Notes ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{Commons category-inline|Neuwerk}}

{{Hamburg}}
{{Boroughs of Hamburg}}
{{Frisian Islands}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Frisian Islands]]
[[Category:Islands of Hamburg]]
[[Category:Quarters of Hamburg]]
[[Category:Hamburg-Mitte]]
[[Category:Nature reserves in Hamburg]]
[[Category:Car-free islands of Europe]]