De Majesteit

De Majesteit

De Majesteit on the move

Ship data flag  Netherlands other ship names Rhineland (until 1965) Rüdesheim (until 1987) Ship type Paddle steamer home port Rotterdam Owner Nederlandse Raderstoomboot Maatschappij Shipyard Sachsenberg brothers , Cologne-Deutz Build number 900 building-costs 520,000 RM Order January 28, 1925 Keel laying August 12, 1925 Launch December 5, 1925 Commissioning May 2, 1926

Ship dimensions and crew length 82.00 m ( Lüa ) width 8.25 m above wheel arches: 15.65 m Draft Max. 1.30 m

Machine system machine 2-cylinder superheated steam compound machine Machine performance 750 PS (552 kW) Top speed 13 kn (24 km / h) propeller 2 side wheels ∅ 3.66 m 1 × bow thruster 1 × stern thruster

Transport capacities Load capacity 100 tdw Permitted number of passengers 600

Others Registration numbers * Europe no .: 4200380 (from 1975 to 1990) Europe number: 2323194 (from 1999 to 2007) ENI 02323194 (since April 1, 2007)

De Majesteit is a party and event ship of the Nederlandse Raderstoomboot Maatschappij , which is used for regular trips in the area of ​​the port of Rotterdam . Rivers in the Netherlands and Belgium are usedfor special and charter trips. The side paddle steamer was built in 1925 and 1926 for the Steamship Company for the Lower and Middle Rhine ( DGNM ) and was in service with the names Rhineland and Rüdesheim until 1990 for the Cologne-Düsseldorf Deutsche Rheinschiffahrt ( KD ). It was the DGNM's first new shipafter the First World War and is still the only former ship of the shipping company to bepoweredby a steam engine. According to the shipping company , it is the largest operational paddle steamer in Europe.

technical description

Hull and decks

De Majesteit is a monohull ship with a pointed bow, slightly flared straight stems and a cruiser stern . The hull consists of riveted steel plates on frames . To protect against uncontrollable water ingress in the event of leaks , six lockable watertight transverse bulkheads were installed in the ship's hull . During various retrofitting measures, the protective deck was equipped with solid side walls and windows. After this deck was given a permanent roof with a curved glass roof in the middle of the ship during the general renovation, the ship has three weatherproof decks, the two upper decks of which are self-supporting. Since the last renovation, the ship has been 82.00 m long, 8.25 m wide (15.65 m above wheel arches). The draft is given as 1.30 m for a maximum load of 100 dwt . De Majesteit can carry up to 600 passengers.

Drive and control

De Majesteit is driven by a sloping two-cylinder compound steam engine with valve control from the Sachsenberg Roßlau brothers with an output of 750  hp via two 3.66 m high paddle wheels with eight paddles each controlled by push rods and eccentrics . The steam required is generated with a two-flame tube cylinder boiler with 137 m² heating surface . The vapor pressure is 10.5  kp / cm³. For better maneuvering, a bow thruster with a 220 kW electric drive and a transverse thruster in the stern were subsequently installed in addition to the already existing three-wing rudder .

Furnishing

De Majesteit at night in Rotterdam

The side paddle steamer is equipped with five salons and two open decks each on the main and upper deck. The salons were designed by the interior decorators according to architectural styles of the 19th and first half of the 20th century. Elements of Art Nouveau , Victorian Style and Art Deco were used . In Captain salon in the front upper deck technical pieces of equipment, like a be engine telegraph , a steering wheel , a compass and a dashboard display. From the veranda in the central nave, the steam engine can be viewed through an open shaft. In addition to the engine and supply rooms, the cloakroom, toilet facilities and galley were accommodated on the lower deck . All decks are air-conditioned and equipped with double glazing. The entire buffet can be transported from the galley to the veranda above by means of a large, round, open hydraulic elevator. A steam organ built by Wijnand Key with 24 pipes was installed behind the chimney and the engine room skylights . The rear part of the roof is used as an exhibition area for decorative objects. For example, a Cadillac placed there was intended to commemorate the Elvis Presley film Café Europa , which premiered in 1960 and in which individual scenes were filmed on the steamer Rheinland . The power supply on board is ensured by two diesel generators with an output power of 275 kVA each  .

history

Construction and commissioning

Above the Loreley (1936)

The DGNM ordered on 28 January 1925 at the shipyard of the brothers Sachsenberg AG in Cologne-Deutz for the first time after the First World War a passenger ship for the then with the Rhenish Prussian Steamship Company conducted joint business Cologne and Duesseldorf Society of Rhine steamship . Previously, only combined passenger and freight ships, such as the Goethe , had been converted into luxurious saloon steamers. This type of ship was built to meet the demands of increasing prosperity in the Roaring Twenties . The keel was laid on August 12, 1925, the launch on December 5 of the same year. The interior of the two-deck saloon steamer was carried out by the company Süddeutsche Raumkunst according to plans by the Cologne architect Reinhardt. On April 30, 1926, the acceptance test took place, which led from Uerdingen to Cologne . The side paddle steamer named Rhineland went on a maiden voyage one day later with guests of honor in the presence of the DGNM supervisory board chairman Otto Henkell with an ascent from Cologne to Mainz . From May 2nd it was used as planned on the same route. When it was delivered to the shipyard, the ship was 79.10 m long and 8.25 m (14.90 m above the wheel arches) wide. The load capacity was 225 tons. The coal-fired steamship was allowed to carry up to 2500 passengers.

Second World War

After the elevation in July 1947

At the Cologne shipyard, Ewald Berninghaus (1950)

At the Loreley (1960)

After the outbreak of the Second World War , the Rhineland was one of the shipping company's ten ships that were used for passenger and freight transport in the summer months from 1940 to 1942. Freight traffic had become necessary to maintain the importance of the KD in the war. This was the only way to ensure that the shipping company was allocated the necessary operating materials, such as coal, lubricants and metal spare parts. In addition, the draft personnel could therefore remain on the ships. Although the ship was given a blue-gray camouflage in March 1941 , it was hit and damaged by an incendiary bomb in Cologne on the night of April 27-28, 1942 . After a short stay in the shipyard, the Rheinland was able to be used again.

From 11 August 1943, the leased Cologne-Düsseldorf , the Rhineland as a barge at the Ford plant in Cologne . Her berth was on the Piwipp in Dormagen. The lease was taken over from December 8th by IG Farben with the same berth. On August 10, 1944, it served in Urfeld as living quarters for bombed-out employees of the UK Wesseling . From February 1945 she was together with the steamer Gutenberg as a hospital ship in Kaiserswerth . Both ships were sunk on March 12, 1945 by artillery fire from the American troops already lying on the left bank of the Rhine. The hull of the Rhineland was bent in the process. In addition, playing children set the shipwreck on fire on June 10, 1945. The Dutch salvage company PH van Wienen was commissioned to lift the ship in September 1946. This took place in July 1947 - then the Rheinland was transferred to the KD port in Düsseldorf to repair the hull.

1950s and 1960s

The Cologne shipyard, Ewald Berninghaus , received the order to build the ship on December 2, 1950. The decks were designed to be cantilevered, the main deck was pulled forward to the front deck so that a sun deck could be set up above . The bow , the oar chair and the chimney were replaced, and a three-surface rudder was also installed. The new extensions made the ship 81.32 m long and 8.25 m (15.66 m above the wheel arches) wide - the load capacity was 176 tons. In terms of design and appearance, it corresponded to the Mainz - the most modern paddle steamer of the Cologne-Düsseldorfer . The Rhineland received approval for 2300 passengers. The cost of rebuilding the ship was 1,000,000 DM . The festive reopening followed by a trip from Cologne to Bad Honnef and back took place on June 28, 1951. From July 1, the shipping company started using the Rhineland in the express service on the Cologne – Mainz route. From 1952 to 1953 the steamer was equipped with a ship's post office. In the spring of 1956, Babcock & Wilcox switched the drive to oil-firing.

After the shipping company had renamed the previous bearer of the name with a change of the sailing area to the Moselle in Trier , the Rhineland was renamed Rüdesheim on February 17, 1965 . A year later, the shipping company lowered the number of passengers to 1,750 for tax reasons. On May 16, 1967, the DGMN and the Preußisch-Rheinische Dampfschiffahrtsgesellschaft merged to form the Cologne-Düsseldorfer Deutsche Rheinschiffahrt AG . Ownership of all ships of the two companies was transferred to the new company.

1970s and 1980s

The Rüdesheim on the banks of the Rhine in Cologne (1975)

The Rüdesheim as a restaurant ship at the Cologne pier (1983)

As a result of the old age of the moving parts and the boiler systems, malfunctions due to material fatigue increased between 1973 and 1975. Defective components were replaced with spare parts from the steamer Vaterland , which was shut down in 1972 and has the same engine. On April 21, 1975 the ship was assigned the official European number 4200380. During a four-month stay at the Dutch De Hoop shipyard in 1976, the machines received a general overhaul. A year later the shipyard union Gustavsburg carried out a major overhaul of the entire ship with subsequent repainting. During the winter break of 1978/79, all the pipes in the boiler system were to be repaired. After the boiler was expanded, this project was postponed to 1980 for cost reasons. At the beginning of April 1979 the KD workshop ship Jan von Werth transferred the unpowered Rüdesheim to Bonn-Gronau . During the Federal Horticultural Show in 1979 she was used as a restaurant ship from April 10th to October 25th. Despite the extensive repairs to the boiler system in the winter of 1980, which involved another general overhaul of the entire ship, the side paddle steamer could no longer be operated economically due to further defects in the engine system, so that the Cologne-Düsseldorfer decommissioned the ship at the end of the 1981 season.

At the request of the Cologne City Council , the KD was to use the ship as a floating restaurant for the construction workers during the construction period of the Cologne Rheingarten . After the renovation of the interior and the transfer to KD-pier 4 at the Frankenwerft, the restaurant, known as the "oasis in the desert of the construction site", opened on May 2, 1983. At the same time, it was used as a dust-free waiting area for the passengers of the Domspatz tour ship and the hydrofoil Rhine arrow used. Due to the alleged discharge of untreated sewage, the restaurant was closed again on July 15, 1983. In a subsequent criminal case with regard to the alleged environmental pollution , the court acquitted those responsible for the Cologne-Düsseldorfer . After the restaurant was closed, the ship only served as a food distribution station and waiting area. In the winter months the ship was towed to the port of Cologne-Niehl and renovated there every year inside and out. When the new passenger ship Rüdesheim went into operation , the name on the bow of the paddle steamer was removed in 1987.

1990s until today

After the unpowered and nameless side-wheel steamer on the Cologne bank of the Rhine ended in autumn 1990 for cost reasons, it served as a storage room in the port of Niehl for two years. The ship was sold in January 1993 to the Dutch Raderstoomboot De Nederlander, Clemens & Wijand Key from Rotterdam , which had already refurbished the small paddle steamer De Nederlander and used it for event trips. On April 19, 1993, the two tugs Limburgia and Lambertus transferred the ship to the Brouwer Scheepswerf in Zaandam for restoration . The restoration of the machinery and the ship's hull , which was carried out with a lot of personal effort by the owner, lasted with interruptions until 1998. Of the two previously existing steam boilers , only one was renovated and equipped with double firing to accelerate the heating phase . The interior fittings of the party and event ship were carried out by the ship equipment company Hoogedoorn Timmerbedrijf in Werkendam . The restoration and conversion costs were 8,000,000  guilders . Ownership of the ship was transferred in May 1999 to the newly founded Nederlandse Raderstoomboot Maatschappij , which registered the paddle steamer with the European number 2323194 and the new name De Majesteit in the Rotterdam shipping register. The completed De Majesteit in Werkendam was delivered on May 28, 1999 . Then she drove empty to Culemborg , where she was presented the next day at the National Bodedag . On June 15, the company owner Klemens Key christened the ship at the Maasboulevard pier in Rotterdam. Since then, it has been traveling regularly on the Nieuwe Waterweg and the Nieuwe Maas on the Maassluis –Rotterdam – Kralingse Veer route and back. It can also be found on other rivers in the Netherlands and Belgium during charter trips . On non-operating days, it is located at the Maasboulevard pier in Rotterdam.

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  Starboard view

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  Port view

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  Bow view

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  Rear view

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  Bow view

literature

• Georg Fischbach: The ships of the Cologne-Düsseldorfer 1826-2004 . Self-published, Marienhausen 2004, ISBN 3-00-016046-9 .
• AF Napp-Zinn: 100 years of Cologne-Düsseldorf Rhine steam shipping, in particular destruction and reconstruction 1939-1953 . M. DuMont Schauberg, Cologne 1953.
• Stephan Nuding: 175 years of Cologne-Düsseldorf Deutsche Rheinschiffahrt AG . Schardt Oldenburg 2001, ISBN 978-3-8984-1035-9 .

Web links

Commons : De Majesteit  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

• Website of the organizer
• Videos about De Majesteit u. a. to the active steam engine and the steam organ

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Page about the technical equipment on the operator's website ( Memento of the original from August 5, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ^ Image of the information sign on the ship
3. ^ Georg Fischbach: The ships of the Cologne-Düsseldorfer 1826-2004 , self-published, Cologne 2004, p. 541
4. ↑ Ship description brochure of the shipowner (pdf; 5.63 MB) ( Memento of the original dated August 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
5. ↑ Reference to the film GI Blues on the operator's website ( Memento of the original from August 7, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
6. ↑ Fischbach, p. 534
7. ↑ Generalanzeiger Bonn of March 30, 2005: Cologne-Düsseldorfer - a fleet without ships ( Memento of the original of April 24, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
8. ↑ Fischbach, p. 535 and p. 536
9. ↑ Ship certificate from June 25, 1951
10. ^ Ship certificate from May 14, 1956
11. ↑ Fischbach, p. 538
12. ↑ Fischbach, pp. 538 to 540
13. ↑ Fischbach, pp. 539 to 541

This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on July 28, 2012 .