Abeking & Rasmussen (A&R) is a shipyard situated in Lemwerder, near Bremen in the German state of Lower Saxony. The shipyard is on the left bank of the River Weser, and currently comprises five production halls with associated workshops and offices, an inner harbour and a syncrolift.[1]
History
The business was founded in 1907 by Georg Abeking and Henry Rasmussen. Abeking, mechanical engineer at the Nordseewerke yard in the harbour of the north German city of Emden, was a friend of Rasmussen and became his partner. With the support of the Grand Duke of Oldenburg, a sailing enthusiast, Abeking and Rasmussen founded their yacht- and shipyard at Lemwerder on the south side of the Weser, opposite the small town of Vegesack.[2] Rasmussen, who idolised American yacht designer Nathanael Herreshoff, was known as a talented yacht skipper and proved to be equally adept as a yacht designer himself. Rasmussen built his first sailing yacht, a vessel called Frisia in the 5-metre class, for himself in the initial year of the Abeking & Rasmussen yard's operation.[3]