Captain Alfred Peter WEICHLEIN and the M/S BREGAGLIA

Undeniably, Captain Alfred Weichlein and the M/S BREGAGLIA were very closely linked, even though the ship had other captains during its time sailing under the Swiss flag.

“Pacha” is the respectful term given in French to the captain of a ship, based on the title held by the Grand Admiral of the Ottoman fleet between 1401 and 1867. 
The term “Grand mât” (Main Mast) is a more popular nickname, which was used mainly in the era of sailing ships, symbolising its importance on board.
“Le Vieux” (The Old Man) is more pejorative, without being mean-spirited.

I had the pleasure of sailing for more than three years with this Pasha, who did not talk much about his carrer. When filling out the numerous and repetitive crew lists that I had to complete during my brief career as an officer, I noted that he was born in Hassloch/Palatinate in 1915, information that remained deeply engraved in my memory. I also knew that Captain Weichlein had first served on various submarines during World War II. (U 74 - U 218 - U 264 - U 542).

His name and various voyages can be found on websites dedicated to German submarines from the last war (u-bootarchive.de). But he never spoke to me in detail about this period of his life, except to tell me one day, as we were sailing in the tricky waters of the Øresund, Kattegat and Skagerrak, that he knew all these waters pretty well, both above and below the surface. He had also called at bases in France (St-Nazaire, Lorient) where he had discovered and tasted a great Bordeaux wine, the “Entre-deux-Mer”. That's why we had that delicious wine on board, for special occasions!

Subsequently, his name appeared on numerous ships of various types, including German, Swedish, Greek and other oil tankers, in various positions within the hierarchy. In 1956, he took his first command.

In early 1962, he was on his first Swiss vessel, the general cargo ship “Allobrogia”, owned by TMSO (Transports Maritimes Suisse-Outremer SA of Geneva, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Banque Pictet, Geneva). Then, in 1963, he was on the prestigious Ariana, a ship on which my cousin had the honour of sailing under the command of

Captain Weichlein. The Ariana was also managed by Suisse-Outremer SA.
In March 1963, the Suisse-Atlantique company purchased the three ‘A’ ships from Suisse-Outremer, namely the “Anunciada”, “Allobrogia” and “Ariana”. The latter was transferred to Helica SA in Geneva, on 12 March 1963.

In mid-1965, Alfred Weichlein took command of the M/S BREGAGLIA, where I met him. This bulk carrier became “his ship” and he remained there until the end of 1972, when the vessel was sold to a Chinese company. He then commanded ships belonging to the company as replacements on the „Corviglia“, „General Guisan“, “Silvretta”, “Lavaux” and “Silvaplana” until 1981, when he finally retired at the age of 66.

Alfred Peter Weichlein, during an interview in Halifax

With Captain Weichlein, I had the opportunity to visit every continent and almost every sea and ocean on the globe during those years at sea.
As I wrote in my book “Lettres de Mer”, the BREGAGLIA is the first of two sister ships, two bulk carriers that had to be closely adapted to the locks of the St. Lawrence Seaway leading to the Great Lakes of America.
No one has described these ships better than Jean Pierre Vuillomenet in his book Carnet de Bord, published by Editions Cabédita:

Careless naval architects began designing flat-bottomed barges, confusing centre of gravity and hydrostatic thrust centre. The aim was to double the load for the same draught, i.e. 18,000 tonnes over eight metres;
a strictly economic imperative leading to disaster.
They forgot that these two barges would sometimes have to cross the oceans.
Rolling keels, the only remedy to prevent instability, were eliminated with a stroke of the pen; they would have remained stuck in the locks.
And so, despite common sense, two sisterships were born at the Split shipyard:
M/S Bregaglia and M/S Bariloche...
Had these custom-made tubs never stopped rolling from side to side?
Just a single revolution of the propeller was enough to create a gyroscopic torque, and a slight list, barely noticeable, trigging an immediate counter-list, and the dance began, on calm waters, in the middle of the estuary.
As soon as they had to face the open sea, the sailors without safety belts risked being thrown out of their bunks...

The BREGAGLIA was built in 1962 at the “3. Maj” shipyard in Rijeka, Yugoslavia.
The hull measured 170.42 m x 22.50 m with a draught of 9.16 m. The gross tonnage (GRT) was 14,112 tonnes, with a net tonnage (NT) of 9,367 tonnes. The deadweight tonnage (DWT) was 19,620 tonnes, indicating a load capacity of around 18,000 tonnes. The ship was equipped with a Sulzer 6RD76 engine developing 7,800 hp, enabling a cruising speed of 14.5 knots.

The design work was entrusted to the naval architecture firm “Maier Form”, a company with a good reputation that has built more than one ship. It seems that they were asked to create a “five-legged sheep”, and the result is the one so well described by J.-P. Vuillomenet above.
I have always admired those who know how to say “no!” to a bad project, but in this case, the engineering firm was unable to steer clear of a poor project that was doomed to failure from the very first pencil stroke. It's a shame for their reputation.

Unlike other cargo ships, the BREGAGLIA does not meet Lloyd's (British) standards, but those of Bureau Véritas (French). This is a form of ship certification, and it is well known that acceptance criteria vary between classification societies. Maier Form probably had to work with Bureau Veritas, or perhaps the latter was more lenient; I never tried to find out, but the fact remains that these sister ships had a very bad reputation for stability and were known for their tendency to roll even in calm conditions.

As you can see, the BREGAGLIA was a nasty roller, but I stayed on bord for more than three years. This just shows that this very ship must have had an attractive mystery about her, that I wasn't the only one to succumb to.
A little anecdote about these violent motions: 

The weather was awful and we were rolling crazily. The second steward brought us some drinks. The captain had clearly had a bad night's sleep and was in a foul mood; he greets the steward with a grumpy expression. 

Then, there was a terrible roll and both the captain and the steward lost their equilibrium and fell to the floor, sliding across all the width of the bridge on their backsides. As a result: the steward crashes first, against the door leading to the wing of the bridge; as for the captain, he ends up on top of the steward, probably mortified! I manage to hold on and I am the only one still standing.

Taking the humorous side of the spectacle, I told the captain:
“Did you notice Sir that the steward is still carrying your coffee on the tray? I think you should drink it before it gets cold.” It was the right thing to say, and our captain regained his good humour... and his coffee!

On board the BREGAGLIA, Captain Weichlein had a feature that I have never seen on other ships:
The chief engineer and the first officer had their meal at the captain's table. This allowed them to discuss all the ship's problems and its operation together. During port manoeuvres, the third officer was in charge of the forward station, the second officer was in charge of the aft station, and the first officer remained on the bridge with the captain.

Our captain also liked to play music and had an electric piano in his cabin. From time to time, he would inform the crew that he was giving a concert, accompanied by a crate of beer from his personal reserve: a German beer called Beck's. He would play well-known tunes and invite us to sing along. We had some great evenings, and this excellent man clearly knew how to mingle with the crew while commanding the necessary respect. There were never any excesses during these parties.

Captain Weichlein had also set up a competition in which participants bet on the date and time of arrival at the port of destination. They bet a handful of dollars, most of which went into a common pot, once the amount set aside for the lucky winner of the competition had been deducted. I never had the honour of winning, but with this “on-board fund” we organised many parties and bought Christmas presents, not to mention the wonderful Argentinean meat for the festivities.

It was also aboard the BREGAGLIA that I met another extraordinary character: the famous ”rower of the impossible”, Roger Montandon. He would go on to row across the Atlantic... in a boat that I designed for him as a naval architect in 1982.

We were already talking about this crossing, calling in Rio de Janeiro.

All this was part of the kindness and fatherly side of Captain Weichlein, a remarkable sailor and a great man.

P.-A. Reymond © December 2025