Heinrich Wilhelm Matthias Olbers (1758-1840) was a famous Bremen (actually Bremerhaven) medical doctor and astronomer, and 5 vessels were named after him:

1. Russian frigate ALEXANDER PETION, built in Archangelsk, Russia, year not given, although she was considered "old" when she arrived in Bremen in 1829. 959 45/94 French tons (in the hanseatische Schiffahrtsregister, capacity given as 480 Lasten, approximately equal to 320 of the later standard Commerzlasten); 2 decks. She arrived at Bremen on 19 November 1829 under the command of Arnold Philipp Gaetjen. She was renamed OLBERS in honor of the 50th anniversary, in 1830, of Olbers receiving his medical doctorate from the University of G"ottingen in 1780. She was later under the command of Johann Michael Herklotz [Dieter Gerdes, "Olbers- Planetarium: F"unf Schiffe nach Olbers benannt, www.hs-bremen.de/planetarium/astroinfo/astronomen/plaolb5s.htm].

   *This* is the vessel that sailed to New Orleans in 1836.

2. Ship OLBERS, built by the shipwright Johann Lange, Vegesack/Grohn, for the Bremen firm of F. & E. Delius, and launched on 1 October 1838. H. W. Exter, of Bremen, was her master for her entire career under the Bremen flag. Her maiden voyage was to New Orleans; among the passengers on this voyage were the "Old Lutheran" pastor Martin Stephan, from Dresden, and approximately 200 of his followers, who later settled in Perry County, Missouri [see, inter alia, Walter O. Forster, _Zion on the Mississippi: The Settlement of the Saxon Lutherans in Missouri, 1839-1841_ (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1953)]. From 1838 to 1848, the OLBERS sailed exclusively between Bremen and North American ports. However, in August 1848, she arrived at Bordeaux, where she stranded entering the Garonne, breaking her keel. She then passed into French hands and was renamed first PERUANA, then, in 1849, after being purchased by the Bordeaux firm of Civrac ainé, ASTRONOME (probably an indication that the firm had some knowledge of Olbers and his contributions to astronomy). In 1853, the vessel was purchased by the Bordeaux firm of Ste. Aure Couperie, which owned her until at least 1856. Her masters under the French flag were F. Giteau and J. Dumoulin. I have at present no information on this vessel's later history and ultimate fate [Peter- Michael Pawlik, _Von der Weser in die Welt; Die Geschichte der Segelschiffe von Weser und Lesum und ihrer Bauwerften 1770 bis 1893_, Schriften des Deutschen Schiffahrtsmuseums, Bd. 33 (Hamburg: Kabel, c1993), pp. 193-194, no. 148].

   *This* is the vessel painted by Carl Justus Harmen Fedeler in 1839 [see copy in Pawlik, _op. cit._, p. 199], a copy of which is posted in error at www.azstarnet.com/~hofmann/trip.html.

3. Ship OLBERS, built by F. W. Wencke, Bremerhaven, for the Bremen firm of D. H. W"atjen & Co, and launched on 4 March 1851. 554 Lasten; 43,11 x 10,20 meters (length x beam); 2 decks. She was engaged primarily in the transport of emigrants to North America, and in 1861 was sold Swedish. The Focke-Museum in Bremen has an oil painting of her, 56 x 82 cm (height x breadth), unsigned, from the 1850's, as well as a lithograph, published by G. Hunckel, Bremen, in 1853; the former is reproduced in Johannes Lachs, _Schiffe aus Bremen; Bilder und Modelle im Focke-Museum_ (Bremen: H. M. Hauschild, [1994]), p. 127, no. 101.

4. Bark OLBERS, built by J. C. Tecklenborg, Bremerhaven, for the Bremen firm of D. H. W"atjen & Co, and delivered to the owner on 23 May 1863. 866/849 tons (gross/net); 48.03 x 10.36 x 6.49 meters (length x beam x depth of hold). On 3 May 1887, the OLBERS was sold for 20,000 marks to Johann Frederic Pedersen, of Christiana [Peter M"uller, "Baunummernliste Tecklenborgwerft (1)," werften.fischtown.de/tabelle1.html; Dieter Gerdes, "Olbers- Planetarium: F"unf Schiffe nach Olbers benannt, www.hs-bremen.de/planetarium/astroinfo/astronomen/plaolb5s.htm]. I have at present no information on her later history or ultimate fate.

5. Iron steamship OLBERS, built by Blohm & Voss, Hamburg, for the Dampfschiffahrtsgesellschaft Neptun, of Bremen, and delivered on 19 July 1880. 528,47 tons; 51,4 x 7,5 x 4,31 meters (length x breadth x depth of hold); 1 funnel, 2 masts, rigged as a "Gaffelschoner". The OLBERS sank in the North Sea on 27 April 1882 [Dieter Gerdes, "Olbers-Planetarium: F"unf Schiffe nach Olbers benannt, www.hs-bremen.de/planetarium/astroinfo/astronomen/plaolb5s.htm].