2023/10/24 by Baensch, Otto, Jensen, Jürgen
#Baltic Sea #FOS: Natural sciences #Küsteningenieurwesen #Meeresregionen #historical storm surges #storm surge #water level
paper · doi:10.18171/1.092107
Preface to the translation of “Die Sturmflut vom 12./13. November 1872 an den Ostseeküsten des Preußischen Staates“ (Mit Zeichnungen auf Blatt F bis P im Text) by Otto Baensch (* June 6th, 1825 in Zeitz; † April 7th, 1898 in Berlin) The original article „Die Sturmflut 12./13. November 1872 an den Ostseeküsten des Preußischen Staates (Mit Zeichnungen auf Blatt F bis P im Text)“ was published in German by Otto Baensch (actually Otto von Baensch) in the “Zeitschrift für Bauwesen” 1875 by Ernst & Kern in Berlin. This article is one of the most valuable and comprehensive publications on the catastrophic storm surge of November 1872, and the English translation is intended to make this authentic historical document of the time available to an international audience. The extensive meteorological and hydrological data on the 1872 storm surge collected by Baensch with great quality have been incorporated in numerous publications that were published afterwards. E. g. the impressive work of Colding (1881), also presented in its English translation in this issue of “Die Küste”, is based on the collection of Baensch reliable data. Colding's paper derives its importance from the physical theories. Therefore, he used all available data on the storm surge of 1872, especially those collected by Baensch, to modify his ideas on sea level response to wind. Based on his analysis of air pressure and the derived wind field data from Baensch, Colding was able to make an important contribution to the still lasting controversy about the cause of the extreme water levels during the storm surge of 1872. Recent publications on historical storm surges in the Baltic Sea, such as Jensen et al. (2022), also printed in this issue of Die Küste, also refer to Baensch's high-quality and very well-researched data. The translation into English was prepared by Mrs. Michaela Stiller and produced by me with the support of Simon Beckmann, Christoph Blasi, Dr. Jacobus Hofstede, Rena Jensen and Dr. Gudrun Rosenhagen. The authentic character of this contemporary document should be preserved as much as possible, therefore the original drawings were not translated. I would like to sincerely thank all those involved for their support during the translation. The following is to be noted regarding the remarkable career as an engineer and natural scientist of Otto Baensch (see Wikipedia, https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/OttoBaensch_ (Ingenieur): Otto Baensch studied surveying and mathematics at the University of Halle from 1842 to 1847 and entered the Prussian civil service after attending the Berlin Bauakademie. In the early days, he was mainly engaged in the construction of churches in the province of Pomerania. After overseeing reconstruction work on Cammin Cathedral, he took charge of the new construction of Heringsdorf Church on Usedom in 1848. In 1855 he became a land architect in the administrative district of Legnica (Liegnitz). From 1858 he was construction manager of the Ruhr-Sieg Railway. Between 1852 and 1871, Otto Baensch was a hydraulic engineering inspector in Stralsund and Coeslin (Cöslin). During this time, he wrote, among other things, about harbour construction, lighthouses and dike construction. After his transfer to the Prussian Ministry of Trade, Commerce and Public Works in Berlin, his tasks included the regulation of the Elbe and Rhine rivers, the canalization of the lower reaches of the Main River from Frankfurt to Mainz (1882 to 1885) and dike construction in the province of Schleswig-Holstein. From 1886, he led the construction of the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal (1887 to 1895), today's Kiel Canal. Otto Baensch was an honorary citizen of the city of Zeitz and was awarded the honorary title of “Geheimer Oberbaurat”. In 1895, Otto Baensch was awarded the personal title of nobility “Otto von Baensch” by the Kingdom of Bavaria, but he did not make use of it.