Kaiser Wilhelm (ship, 1900)
 Paddle steamer Kaiser Wilhelm at the Lauenburg pier
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The Kaiser Wilhelm paddle steamer belonging to the Association for the Promotion of the Lauenburg Elbe Shipping Museum is one of the last coal-fired paddle steamers in Germany, along with the Diesbar paddle steamer from the Saxon Steamship Company . The ship was in 1900 in the shipyard of the Dresden engineering and shipyard AG with the hull number 386 to set keel . It was named after the German Kaiser Wilhelm II.
history
The Oberweser Dampfschiffahrt (OWD) founded in 1883 by the mill entrepreneur Friedrich-Wilhelm Meyer ordered the paddle steamer Kaiser Wilhelm from Dresdener Maschinenbau und Schiffswerft AG in 1899 . After being launched on May 18, 1900, the journey across the Elbe and North Sea to the Weser began . The ship arrived in Hameln on May 23, 1900. It was comfortably furnished and already had electric light. It was used on the 135 km long route between Hann. Münden and Hameln . In the winter months it was used as a tug for the mill operation. From January 26, 1907, the ship sailed under the flag of the Oberweser-Dampfschiffahrtsgesellschaft FW Meyer Hameln (OWDG). The ship underwent initial renovations in 1907. The front deck was expanded throughout. After the 1909 season, the paddle steamer was transferred to Dresden . At the Übigau shipyard , the ship was lengthened by ten meters as part of a conversion program. A steam control machine was also installed. It was built by Dresdener Maschinenfabrik und Schiffswerft Uebigau AG , with factory no. 1273. On April 26, 1910, the ship began its return voyage. The helm located on the upper deck was only later given a wheelhouse.
In January 1917 the ship was damaged in a flood. It was torn off and pushed under the Weser bridge in Hameln. During modernization work in the 1920s, the typical double windows in the aft section were replaced by simple windows and the aft deck was expanded throughout. At the end of the Second World War , the ship was buoyant, but not operational.
After repairs, it resumed regular service in June 1946. In the 1950s, the liner service was extended to Vlotho and later to Porta Westfalica . After the old boiler was no longer approved, a new steam boiler had to be installed in 1954. In the course of this work, the double windows in the foredeck have now also been replaced by simple windows. After the bankruptcy of the OWDG in 1964, the ship sailed from 1965 under the flag of Personenschiffahrt Oberweser GmbH . Until the late summer of 1970 the ship was in liner service between Hann. Münden and Hameln used. On September 26, 1970, the last scheduled trip on the Hameln – Polle – Hameln line took place. After decommissioning, the ship should first be scrapped. On behalf of the Association for the Promotion of the Lauenburg Elbe Shipping Museum , Ernst Schmidt († 2018) bought Kaiser Wilhelm . The handover took place in Hameln on October 15, 1970. After sailing over the Mittelland Canal and the Elbe through what was then the GDR , the ship arrived in Lauenburg on October 25, 1970 .
Museum steamer Lauenburg
It was planned to keep the paddle steamer for excursions on the Elbe in the summer months. In Lauenburg, paddle steamers had already been stopped in 1961 after more than 100 years. On November 15, 1970, two special trips took place. In 1971 the first trips to Hamburg and Hitzacker were made . In 1974/75 the ship's bottom was replaced from the waterline by the Theodor Buschmann shipyard in Hamburg. In 1985 the wooden upper deck was renewed and in 1987/88 the power supply changed from 110 volts to 220 volts. In 1993/94 the ship received new paddle wheels at the Hitzler shipyard in Lauenburg. In 1993 the ship was entered in the Schleswig-Holstein register of monuments. After the extensive renovation, the paddle steamer has been used for trips about every two weeks on the weekends since the summer of 1971. The trips take place between the end of May and the beginning of October and lead from Lauenburg up the Elbe over 20 km to Bleckede and the Hitzacker another 30 kilometers away. From July 15, 1973 to August 17, 1986, trips to Hamburg were made from Lauenburg. These ended at the Norderelbbrücke pier . After this investor was dismantled due to austerity measures by the Hamburg Senate, the trips offered down the Elbe end in Hoopte .
The first solemn lock of the new Lauenburg lock was carried out on May 12, 2006 with the Kaiser Wilhelm .
The paddle steamer is operated and maintained by the "Association for the Promotion of the Lauenburg Elbe Shipping Museum". He drives with an unpaid volunteer crew. In 2011 Ernst Schmidt, who brought the ship to Lauenburg in 1970, resigned at the age of 84. A crisis then loomed in the club and the 2014 season threatened to fall into the water. The Kaiser Wilhelm has not yet undergone a major overhaul like other paddle steamers . The association lacks the necessary financial means for this. After an expert opinion was drawn up, the association received funding for the first steps in the renovation. Funding for a basic overhaul is not secured.
A 17-day trip across the Elbe to Dresden was planned for August 2015, where the ship was built at the time. The trip started on time. However, the low water level of the Elbe stopped the journey in Roßlau . On September 3rd, the ship was able to continue and on September 5th, the ship arrived 2 days late in its hometown. It had been 105 years since his last visit.
In October 2019, the stern was separated and the following year that of the Hitzler shipyard was replaced by a new, 6.5-meter-long stern.
The steam engine
The steam engine is an inclined high-pressure two-cylinder composite steam engine with injection condensation. Like the two-flame tube cylinder boiler, it was built by the steamship and mechanical engineering institute of the Austrian Northwest Steamship Company in Dresden with factory no. 565. The power is 168 hp. The steam engine acts on two side paddle wheels. The steam boiler had a steam pressure of 10 bar . In 1954 the ship received a new steam boiler from Conrad Engelke technic GmbH & Co KG in Hanover . The steam pressure is 12 bar.
literature
- Ingo Heidbrink: “Kaiser Wilhelm” paddle steamer as old as our century. Schober, Hamburg 1996 (= ships, people, fates 4th year, no.33)
- The passenger paddle steamer Kaiser Wilhelm. 90 years of paddle steamer 20 years of cruises on the Elbe In: Lauenburger Hefte zur Binnenschiffahrtsgeschichte , Volume 1, 1990. Association for the promotion of the Lauenburg Elbe Shipping Museum, Lauenburg, 1992.
- Jan Kruse: The Oberweser Dampfschifffahrt Suttonverlag, Erfurt 2013, ISBN 978-3-7322-6499-5 .
Web links
- Paddle steamer Kaiser Wilhelm on the website of the friends' association
- History of shipping on the Weser
- Passenger steamer Kaiser Wilhelm - data sheet
- Passenger steamer Kaiser Wilhelm - steam engine
- Passenger steamer Kaiser Wilhelm - steam control machine
Individual evidence
- ↑ Mourning for Ernst Schmidt - the "father" of the paddle steamer "Kaiser Wilhelm"
- ↑ http://www.abendblatt.de/region/article116320118/Kaiser-Wilhelm-Meuterei-auf-dem-Museumsschiff.html .
- ↑ http://www.landeszeitung.de/blog/lokales/244919-frisch-ueberholter-raddampfer-kaiser-wilhelm-startet-reise-in-geburtsstadt-dresden
- ↑ Gunnar Klehm: "Kaiser Wilhelm" comes too late. In: saechsische.de. September 5, 2015, accessed April 13, 2020 .
- ↑ The stern post is faithfully reproduced. March 10, 2020, accessed March 11, 2020 .