His father was the painter and art teacher, August Albrecht Christian Tischbein.

His youth was spent in the port of Rostock, where he developed his interest in ships.

[1] In 1821, he completed his course and worked in Rotterdam as a mechanical engineer, building steamships.

After studying the situation there, Tischbein returned to Rostock and, together with the master shipbuilder Wilhelm Zeltz (1814-1864), established a shipyard and machine works.

In addition to his ships, he also designed gas processing plants and steam pumps.