SWINEMUNDE, a Baltic port and bathing-place on the island of Usedom in Pomerania, Prussia, is situated at the month of the Swine, 35 miles to the north-west of Stettin. Its broad unpaved streets and one-story houses built in the Dutch style give it an almost rustic appearance, although its industries, beyond some fishing, are entirely connected with its shipping. The entrance to the harbour, one of the best on the Prussian Baltic coast, is protected by two long breakwaters, and is strongly fortified. Swinemiinde lighthouse, 216 feet high, the loftiest in Germany, rises beside the new docks on the island of Wollin, on the other side of the narrow Swine. Ships drawing not more than 16 feet can proceed to Stettin, but those of heavier burden discharge or lighten at Swinemiinde, which thus stands in the relation of a fore-port to the larger city, with which it is connected by railway. Exclusive of merely passing ships, 615 vessels with a burden of 189,491 tons entered and 607 vessels with a burden of 179,336 tons cleared the port in 1880. In 1882 it possessed a fleet of 39 vessels with a burden of 5218 tons. The population in 1880 was 8478.

The Swine, the central and shortest passage between the Stettiner Haff and the Baltic Sea, was formerly flanked by the fishing villages of West and East Swine. Towards the beginning of last century it was made navigable for large ships, and Swinemiinde, which was founded on the site of West Swine in 1748, was fortified and raised to the dignity of a town by Frederick the Great in 1765. In 1775 it had 1000 inhabitants, in 1816 3191.