Search for Carl August Engel

ow-preussen-l
1

Hello and Goodevening dear friends,

My name is David and I live in The Netherlands. In the family a story goes
of a foreign Russian sailor who married a Dutch woman.

The story is that he washed up on a Dutch island named Terschelling after
shipwrecking but nothing more is known about the ship, where he exactly came
from and who he was.

Now I found his wedding certificate (1900) in some Dutch archives but that
is somehow vague :

*Carl August Engel : Born somewhere around 1860 in Kahlholz (G), died 1943
in The Netherlands*

*Son of Ferdinand Engel : Born somewhere around 1828, location unknown*
*Son of Wilhelmine Rentel : Born somewhere around 1834, location unknown*

He had four official kids in Holland and the first one was born in 1888.

I looked up the region of Kahlholz and it's situated couple of miles south
of the former Köningsbergen in former Eastern Prussia and nowadays it's
mostly swamp and forrest land.

So I tried to find out if any Prussian ships stranded in the vicinity of the
island between 1860 and 1888. I found out that only in 1867 a Prussian
Barque called "Die Braut" stranded near Terschelling. Everyone was saved by
a life boat but no mentioning was made of the names of the people who sailed
with it and what happened with them after they were saved.

But if this would be the one boat that would mean that he was around the age
of 7 when he arrived and stayed in The Netherlands. Could be possible but
not likely but who knows...

So I'm hoping if anyone can navigate me to some maritime records concerning
crewmember list of "Die Braut" in 1867 or some other places where I can find
information about the three above named people.

Thanks in advance en best regards,
David

2

Hello David,

What makes you think Carl August Engel was a *Russian* sailor? Your data clearly show that he was an ethnic German from the Kingdom of Prussia. At the time of his birth, however, East Prussia was not in that part of said kingdom which belonged to the German Federation (Deutscher Bund, 1815-1866).

Regards,

Rolf-Peter

3

Hello Rolf-Peter,

The story in my family went that he was from Russia but indeed like the
research-results show that he was the province of East Prussia. Hist last
name also sounds more German-originated and not Russian to me :slight_smile:

But you know how that goes with stories that are passed down orally down the
line to children and their grandchildren.

Errors start sliping in like the one that he was from Russia. Another error
in the story that was told to me was that his middle name was Gustav but in
the marriage document I found that it actually was August.

He might as well couldn't have been a survivor from a shipwreck like the
story says but maybe a sailor or traveller who on a trip fell in love with a
Dutch Woman and decided to stay on a very small island in Holland.

But since I know he's from East Prussia I would like to know more about that
familytree just because the area has such a fascinating history.

Mit freundlichen Grussen,
David