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Puck town (Poland)

Puck county, Pomorskie voivodship

image by Chrystian Kretowicz, 2 Nov 2008
adopted before 2003

Puck city flag
Puck city Coat of Arms

See also:

Puck city flag

Puck - urban commune, Puck County, Pomorskie Voivodship - Kashubian name: Pùck, German name: Putzig.
Puck is a town in northwestern Poland with 11,350 inhabitants. It is in Gdańsk Pomerania on the south coast of the Baltic Sea (Bay of Puck).
Area: 4.9 sq.km (1.9 sq.mi).
The settlement became a marketplace and a seaport as early as the 7th century. The name, as was common during the Middle Ages, was spelt differently: Pauzigk, Pautzke (in a 1277 document Putzc, 1277 Pusecz, 1288 Puczse and Putsk, 1289 Pucz. In 1308 it came under the rule of the Teutonic Order as part of Pomerelia together with the main city Dantzike. It achieved town status in 1348. Together with the rest of Royal Prussia it joined Poland in 1454 (1466) and was the place of the local County Administration (Starostwo). Since the Polish kings tried to create a fleet at Danzig, but independend Hanseatic Danzig would not allow them in their territory, some chartered by Poland ships had to land at Pautzke (Puck) in 1567.
Poland tried to establish a Polish Navy, got to use some harbors in Livonia and Finland, but a standing navy never materialize. Swedish-Lithuanian Vasa King of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Sigismund III again tried to establish a fleet in his attempts to wrest the crown of Sweden from King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, but Sigismund's attempts at creating a fleet were destroyed in 1628.

The first actual Polish Navy was founded at the end of World War II in 1918 with heavy French and British involvement.
In 1772, through the Partitions of Poland, the western Prussian town was incorporated into the Kingdom of Prussia. After 1919 it was assigned to the Second Polish Republic as part of the Polish Corridor by the Treaty of Versailles. In 1920 Poland celebrated Poland's Wedding to the Sea in Puck. Until 1939 Puck was the main war harbour of the Polish Navy and the only Polish harbour until Gdynia was built in the 1920s. A branch of the Stutthof concentration camp existed in Puck in the years 1941 to 1944. After 1945 it became part of Poland again.

The adoption date of Arms and flag is nowhere to be found on the net or in the maze of the documents.
It got to be before 2003, but the exact date and the resolution # remain heavily guarded secrets.
"Arms: Coat of Arms of Puck is a historic seal of the city:

"History of Puck crest
Puck is proud of its unique crest. The motive of a lion holding a salmon appeared in the 16th century. There are different versions of origin of Puck crest. First of them suggests that king Karol Knutson Bonde, banished from Sweden, received Puck for three years (1457-1460) and then added to the crest a symbol of his country - a lion.
According to the second version, Puck as a village and later town was in lien of Gdańsk and therefore Gdańsk added to its crest one of two lions of its own crest. The older fishermen passed to next generations a beautiful and interesting legend concerning Puck crest. Let today's youth know this old fishermen's tale.
Two fish, eel and salmon, dreamt about being in the crest of the town. Neither of them wanted to give up ambitious plans, so they started a deadly fight. Salmon, having a bigger mouth, decided to eat the eel. The eel planned to strangle the opponent, wrapping around its body. And one day this plan almost worked out. Before the salmon noticed, the opponent had wrapped around it and, although it did not manage to choke it completely, it made it impossible to find food, sentencing the victim to slow death of starvation. Thus, they were immobilised in a tragic tangle, looking at each other hatefully. The salmon regretted its young life. He loved the sea and beauty of setting sun, which as a ball of fire rolled into the sea depths. Suddenly, both enemies heard sqeaking of rows, and they saw a shadow of fisherman's boat. In the boat, besides a fisherman, there was also - strangely - a lion. The town authorities destined it for the Puck crest, in order to emphasize bravery of their town. This noble animal, noticing the advantage of the eel over the half-dead salmon decided to reconcile the enemy fish.
Resorting to the trick, the lion proposed a company to the eel in these words: I am destined for Puck crest. However, I believe that there are others, wiser and braver than me, for instance you, eel. Therefore, I will gladly share this honour with you. Approach and take place beside me in the boat. The eel just waited for such a proposal, it let go of its victim and, self-assured approached the boat. Then the lion pushed it aside with disgust and asked the fisherman to go straight to the
shore. In the meantime liberated salmon was freely moving forward and avoiding stones and shoals led the overseas guest to Puck harbour. And then the lion brought him to the top of town hall and thus they both were displayed on the crest." (city's website)

Flag: rectangular piece of cloth in the light-blue color. Arms are placed in the middle of the flag. Ratio is 3:4."
Chrystian Kretowicz, 2 Nov 2008

Puck city Coat of Arms

image by Chrystian Kretowicz, 2 Nov 2008
adopted before 2003