During the ducal and Brandenburg periods (16th\u201317th centuries), the \u015awina Strait was only sporadically used as a waterway by ships traveling to and from Szczecin. There were two main reasons for this situation. \nFirst, the mouth of the \u015awina was blocked by a sandbank that reduced its depth to about 1.5 meters and shifted its position after autumn and winter storms. \nSecond, the river\u2019s reverse delta on the Szczecin Lagoon side was extremely difficult for contemporary ships to navigate. \nAs a result, since the Middle Ages, the Peene Strait had become the main waterway used by Szczecin vessels sailing to and returning from the Baltic Sea.<\/p>\n\n
When the Prussians finally took over Szczecin from the Swedes in 1720\u20131721, they decided to rebuild the city\u2019s maritime trade and turn it into the main port of the Prussian state. However, these ambitious plans faced a serious obstacle \u2014 Sweden still controlled the only navigable waterway, the Peene Strait, through the customs chamber in Wolgast. There, high customs duties were imposed on ships sailing to and from Szczecin, making trade through the city unprofitable. \n \nIn response, as early as 1720, the Prussian authorities ordered surveys of the navigability of the \u015awina and Dziwna straits. Yet, making either of them fully navigable required enormous financial investment. In this situation, King Frederick William I decided to enter negotiations with Sweden. When the first talks on free navigation through the Peene collapsed in the summer of 1722, Prussian officials once again analyzed the costs of transferring Szczecin\u2019s maritime trade to the \u015awina or Dziwna. It was concluded that dredging the shorter \u015awina would be more advantageous for the Prussian treasury, though still considered very expensive. \n \nAfter further failed negotiations with Sweden in 1730\u20131731, the Prussians were forced to begin the first dredging works on the \u015awina in 1730. At that time, they dug through the large sandbank blocking the strait\u2019s mouth and built part of a quay on the Wolin Island side. However, these early works proved short-lived \u2014 the channel quickly silted up again, and autumn storms damaged the quay. \n \nWhen Swedish\u2013Prussian talks over free navigation on the Peene finally collapsed in 1733\u20131734, Prussia\u2019s stance changed decisively. Regardless of cost, in the summer of 1739, intensive dredging began at the mouth of the strait, along with the piling of its eastern bank opposite the village of \u015awina \u2014 a medieval settlement on the other side of the channel. Between 1740 and 1741, about 200 meters of port quay were built on the Wolin side, with an additional 130 meters added in 1743. Thanks to regular dredging, the Prussians managed to maintain a waterway depth of just over three meters leading to the port. \n \nAround this new harbor, a settlement began to emerge, inhabited by workers employed in the port. Most settlers chose the eastern bank of the \u015awina, but after 1744 \u2014 when a royal edict granted new residents six years of tax exemption \u2014 some settled on the western side as well. From the early 1740s onward, the first, mostly small, ships began sailing from Szczecin to the Baltic Sea through the \u015awina.<\/p>\n\n
In 1744, greater attention was given to strengthening the seashore on both sides of the strait, and construction began on an eastern breakwater designed to direct the flow of the \u015awina so that it would naturally deepen the channel used by ships entering and leaving the port. \nA major breakthrough in construction came in 1745, when the total length of all quays, including those built within the small harbor basin, reached nearly one kilometer. The depth of the harbor waters along the quays ranged from about 4 to 8 meters, while the waterway from the port to the Baltic measured around 3.5 meters deep. \n \nThe entire port complex, along with its adjoining settlement, was situated on the eastern bank of the strait. To achieve and maintain the required depths both in the \u015awina and within the port itself, several dredgers operated there permanently. \nIn 1746, 215 ship passages through the strait were recorded, compared to nearly 3,000 still passing through the Peene. However, intensive hydraulic engineering works at the mouth of the \u015awina and along the main channel of its reverse delta meant that an increasing number of vessels began choosing the \u015awina as their route to the Baltic. \n \nBy 1747, the number of passages rose to 627, and after Frederick II issued an order in 1748 requiring all Prussian ships to reach the sea via the \u015awina, traffic increased to 1,390 passages. In practice, by 1750, most of Szczecin\u2019s maritime trade had already shifted to the newly established waterway. \n \nIn 1751, port works intensified further \u2014 the quays on the eastern side of the strait were extended by another 250 meters, and piling began on the western bank. By the mid-1750s, the quay along the western side of the \u015awina had reached nearly 600 meters in length. Thus, it can be cautiously estimated that, on both sides of the strait, the port possessed a total of around 1.5 kilometers of quays, with water depths varying between 3 and 8 meters.<\/p>\n\n
It should be emphasized that even in the mid-18th century, only some of the smaller ships sailed directly through the \u015awina to the port of Szczecin. Most vessels unloaded their cargo at the mouth of the \u015awina. The goods were then reloaded onto lighters, which transported them across the lagoon to Szczecin. Conversely, goods brought from the Szczecin port on these lighters were transferred at the mouth of the \u015awina onto seagoing vessels. \n \nAt that time, the port on the \u015awina rose to the status of Szczecin\u2019s outer (forward) harbor.<\/p>\n\n
By the mid-18th century, a gradual shift of settlement toward the western bank of the \u015awina estuary had become clearly visible. This process accelerated after the construction on that side of a customs and licensing office building (1744) and a pilot station (1745). \n \nIn 1748, the first street running along the strait was laid out there \u2014 Pilot Street (Lotsenstra\u00dfe). A second street, Church Street (Kirchenstra\u00dfe), led from the customs office to the center of the village of \u015awina. \n \nIn 1750, work began on surveying a new town on the western bank of the \u015awina, where, together with the village, about 670 inhabitants lived at the time. By 1752, Johann Heinrich Both oversaw police authority over the settlement\u2019s population, while Wilhelm Ludwig Weissenberg held judicial authority. Both officials came to be referred to as mayors, even though the settlement had not yet been formally granted municipal rights.<\/p>\n\n
The situation described above changed dramatically during the Seven Years\u2019 War (1756\u20131763). The Swedes, who joined the anti-Prussian coalition in 1757, occupied the islands of Usedom and Wolin and, between 1757 and 1759, destroyed the port at the mouth of the \u015awina. \n \nThe quays were thoroughly demolished, all port facilities were destroyed, and seven ships loaded with stones were sunk in the shipping channel to block access. The settlements on both sides of the strait were also burned down.<\/p>\n\n
After the end of the war, in 1763, the Prussian authorities decided to rebuild the port at the mouth of the \u015awina. Significant funds for this purpose were allocated by Frederick II himself. The sunken ships were removed from the waterway, the stones were extracted, and the channel cutting through the sandbank was deepened. \n \nHowever, the authorities chose not to rebuild the quays or the settlement on the island of Wolin. Instead, all reconstruction efforts shifted to the island of Usedom. Between 1766 and 1776, new quays approximately 1.2 km long were built along its shoreline. Both banks of the strait were enclosed with wooden breakwaters, designed to let the current naturally deepen the shipping channel leading to the port. \n \nBy the late 1770s, the reconstruction of the port was completed. Its center was now located on the western bank of the strait, where a new town\u2014\u015awinouj\u015bcie\u2014developed, officially granted municipal rights in 1765. The eastern bank was merely reinforced with palisades and fitted with a short quay, used mainly by lighters transporting goods between \u015awinouj\u015bcie and Szczecin.<\/p>\n\n
Further major port investments were recorded in \u015awinouj\u015bcie at the turn of the 1770s and 1780s. At that time, the most heavily worn sections of the quays were repaired, the harbor basin was deepened, and especially the shipping channel leading to the port, which had become severely silted in many areas. The breakwaters protecting the mouth of the \u015awina were also reinforced. \n \nAfter the Seven Years\u2019 War, the \u015awinouj\u015bcie port buzzed with activity. The quays were piled high with transshipped goods, which were loaded onto specially designed lighters sailing to and from Szczecin. Only some ships continued directly through the \u015awina estuary, navigating the strait and the lagoon straight to the Szczecin port. \n \nFurther major repairs of the port infrastructure took place in the final years of the 18th century and the early 19th century. These focused mainly on the renovation of existing quays and both breakwaters. The size of the port itself did not increase after the late 1770s, maintaining slightly over 1.5 kilometers of quays.<\/p>\n\n
It should be emphasized that the port was the driving force behind the development of \u015awinouj\u015bcie, where a merchant and ship-owning community gradually took shape. The formal establishment of the settlement accelerated the town\u2019s population growth. \n \nIn 1765, \u015awinouj\u015bcie had 1,075 inhabitants; in 1773 \u2013 1,395; in 1777 \u2013 1,804; in 1784 \u2013 1,939; in 1789 \u2013 2,057; in 1796 \u2013 2,222; and by 1805, the population had reached 2,500. At the same time, the number of houses within the designated city quarters also grew: 180 houses in 1780, 307 in 1789, and 327 in 1798. \n \nTrade, transport, and crafts were the main occupations of \u015awinouj\u015bcie\u2019s residents in the 18th century. In 1770, the guild of merchants and traders was founded. After the Seven Years\u2019 War, the town became an important shipping center. By 1805, a total of 145 coastal vessels\u2014mainly lighters transporting goods to and from Szczecin\u2014sailed under the \u015awinouj\u015bcie flag, owned by 48 citizens of the town. \n \nThe first seagoing vessel was registered in 1751, and between 1780 and 1805, the \u015awinouj\u015bcie registers recorded 106 seagoing ships in total. In 1805, the \u015awinouj\u015bcie maritime fleet comprised 19 such vessels.<\/p>\n\n
The town had a strong craft tradition, represented by guilds of bakers (founded in 1767), tailors (1768), locksmiths (1769), butchers (1777), linen weavers (1785), coopers (1805), and masons (1806). \n \nInterestingly, the ship carpenters\u2019 guild was not established until 1799, even though a shipyard had been operating at the mouth of the \u015awina since 1747. Initially, it specialized in repairs, but from 1750 onward, it also began building new vessels. The first ships were small coastal units, including lighters, but after the Seven Years\u2019 War, the shipyard started constructing seagoing vessels, some with capacities of up to 300 lasts. \n \nDuring this period, \u015awinouj\u015bcie was a coastal port town, whose residents earned their living from port services, shipbuilding, trade, and maritime transport.<\/p>\n\n
In summary, it should be stated that the unresolved Swedish-Prussian conflict over free navigation on the Peene River led the Prussians to decide on the creation of a new waterway, intended to free Szczecin\u2019s trade from excessive customs duties. Ultimately, the \u015awina River was chosen for this purpose, where intensive dredging and hydrotechnical works were carried out starting in 1739. \n \nThese efforts resulted in the creation of a port at the mouth of the \u015awina, which by around 1750 had taken over the vast majority of Szczecin\u2019s trade. The Swedes\u2019 attempt to destroy the port during the Seven Years\u2019 War proved unsuccessful, as the Prussians\u2014regardless of enormous costs\u2014rebuilt it, and in 1765 founded the town of \u015awinouj\u015bcie alongside it. \n \nBy the end of the 18th century, the port and its associated town had developed steadily within the Prussian monarchy, forming\u2014together with Szczecin\u2014the largest port complex in Prussia at the time.<\/p>\n\n
More:<\/p>\n\n
Rados\u0142aw Gazi\u0144ski, Z dziej\u00f3w stosunk\u00f3w gospodarczych mi\u0119dzy Szwecj\u0105 a Prusami. Sp\u00f3r o handel na Pianie i \u015awinie w latach 1720-1763,<\/em> \u201ePrzegl\u0105d Zachodniopomorski\u201d, 1992, z. 1, s. 39-47.<\/p>\n\n Rados\u0142aw Gazi\u0144ski, Handel morski Szczecina w latach 1720-1805<\/em>, Szczecin 2000.<\/p>\n\n Rados\u0142aw Gazi\u0144ski, Dzieje \u015awinouj\u015bcia do 1806 roku<\/em>, w: \u015awinouj\u015bcie tradycja i wsp\u00f3\u0142czesno\u015b\u0107<\/em>, red. S. Mollin, \u015awinouj\u015bcie 2007.<\/p>\n\n Rados\u0142aw Gazi\u0144ski<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false},"kategoria-epoki":[],"class_list":["post-1911","epoka","type-epoka","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":[],"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":[],"comment_info":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/historiapomorza.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/epoka\/1911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/historiapomorza.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/epoka"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/historiapomorza.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/epoka"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/historiapomorza.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"kategoria-epoki","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/historiapomorza.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/kategoria-epoki?post=1911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}