Talk:SS Erlangen (1929)

Expanding using translation of article from German Wikipedia

@Motacilla Hi, I have seen that you produce or work on a lot of articles related to the history of merchant shipping (amongst many other things). I would like to ask if you would you be interested in expanding this stub I have just created, perhaps using a translation of a reasonably long corresponding article in the German Wikipedia: de:Erlangen (Schiff, 1929). I have little experience with articles about ships, and don't feel confident in creating a full article about this vessel. I came across the fascinating story of the escape of this ship from New Zealand at the outbreak of the Second World War while researching content for expansion of the article about Carnley Harbour, where the vessel obtained wood to help it make the journey to a neutral country. If working on this article is not convenient or suitable for you, perhaps you know another user who could be invited to assist ?_Marshelec (talk) 21:16, 21 December 2024 (UTC)

Thankyou for your message and kind words. Nice ship! Erlangen's story looks fairly straightforward, so I should be able to revise and expand the article fairly easily. Plus, if New Zealand newspapers reported the story, the NNZ's "Papers Past" website will have articles about it online, free of charge. However, I have just had a three-week break from Wikipedia, so I am even more behind with articles than usual, so it may take me a few weeks to tackle Erlangen. If you don't mind a bit of a wait, I will see what I can do. Thankyou for asking me to help! Motacilla (talk) 11:23, 24 December 2024 (UTC)

I am delighted that you are interested in expanding this article, and completely understand that it may be some time before you commence work. One of the reasons that I am hesitant to work on fully expanding the article is that I have no knowledge of German, yet there is a large amount of good information and sources in the German article. I am reluctant to rely entirely on automatic translation because of the risk of misinterpretation, and the fact that I do not have access to, and cannot read the cited German language sources. I will still do what I can to assist. Here are a few useful things I have found out so far:

• There is an article about a sister ship in the English Wikipedia: Goslar (ship) (I have not yet added a Wikilink to the mention of Erlangen in that article, so this needs to be done - perhaps when the article is more advanced).
• There is a story: Erlangen's resourceful escape to safety that was published in the New Zealand newspaper - the Dominion, in 1992. See an index record here: https://natlib.govt.nz/records/21118835 This issue is not yet archived in Papers Past. However, when I am next back in Wellington (probably before end January), I will visit the National library to view the microfilm copy and take a PDF of the story, in case it is useful. I hope it is a good summary article. The stories in NZ newspapers from the 1939 period that I have seen so far are short on facts, have incorrect details, and are probably somewhat speculative and unreliable because of the circumstances of the time.
• Many sources say that the crew obtained 400 tonnes of wood from the Auckland Islands, but the German article (apparently based on much better sources) says that although the target was 400 tonnes, the ship departed Auckland Island on 7 October with only 240 tonnes. This is an important fact for the overall story, and I have assumed that the German account is valid.

Thankyou for your updates. I thought I recognised the name Erlangen. Almost exactly a year ago, I revised and expanded the article on her sister ship Goslar! I have now started research on Erlangen. Papers Past is helpful for her movements immediately before the war began. As for her escape voyage, The New York Times in December 1939 seems to have spread the misapprehension that she managed to fell all the 400 tons of timber that she needed. NZ newspapers seem to have quoted the NYT. But the NYT was quoting a news release from Berlin, which itself may have been inaccurate on that point.

Much of the German Wikipedia article seems to have been written in 2014. It follows a German Wikipedia practice of having very few inline citations to verify specific statements. What is more, some of the German sources cited are now dead links! For both of those reasons, I may have to omit some of the details that the German article includes. However, I own a hefty, two-volume German-language history of the NDL fleet, which outlines Erlangen's voyage. And online searches, particularly in German, may reveal sources that are still live. The NYT report calls Erlangen's voyage to "a sea yarn that might well have sprung from the pen of Joseph Conrad". It is certainly a good adventure tale. Thankyou again for asking me to work on it! Motacilla (talk) 17:34, 7 January 2025 (UTC)