Gerhard Moritz Roentgen

Gerhard Moritz Roentgen (born May 7, 1795 Esens in East Friesland ; † October 28, 1852 in Santpoort near Velsen in North Holland ) was a Dutch naval officer, mechanical engineer and shipbuilder. From 1823 he was busy with the establishment of the Nederlandsche Stoomboot Maatschappij (NSM), of which he was a technical director until shortly before his death in 1852.

Life

Youth and Navy Time

Gerhard Moritz Roentgen, known in the Netherlands as Gerhard Mauritz Roentgen, was the fourth child of Sophia Tischbein and Ludwig Roentgen , preacher and inspector of the poor and orphanage in Esens in East Friesland. The father, Ludwig, came from the Roentgen family of cabinet makers based in Neuwied am Rhein . Until he was 13, Gerhard lived in Esens, which was now part of the French-controlled Kingdom of Holland . In 1808 he registered as a marine student at the Instituut voor de Marine in Enkhuizen, Holland . Gerhard Moritz Roentgen and 30 of his classmates were relocated by the French to Toulon , where they were supposed to complete a naval training as sea ​​aspirants . An application for release was acknowledged by French authorities with detention in a fort near Toulon. In 1813 the Netherlands was liberated. Röntgen managed to escape from France and was taken in by the now Dutch navy. In November 1814 he was promoted to "Second Class Lieutenant" and sent by the naval command to England to study modern shipbuilding. During this time, the first steamships were launched in England .

marriage

During a stay in England Roentgen met Georgina Louise Bennet, who is considered to be exceptionally pretty. Without soliciting the king's consent to this connection, as dictated by naval etiquette, he married his girlfriend in 1821. He later asked the king's forgiveness for his careless actions, and Wilhelm I forgave him. However, on May 21, 1821, his wife had to undertake to the Maas Main Department never to accompany her husband on a sea voyage or on board a ship.

Study trips

When Roentgen traveled to London in 1821 to oversee the construction of a steam ferry, he was commissioned by the Ministry of Education to collect all information about the extraction and processing of iron. His report on the English iron industry left a lasting impression on his clients. In 1823 the order followed to review the state of the iron industry in the southern provinces of Holland. With his views on steam shipping, he drew the attention of King Willem I , who sent the naval lieutenant back to England to explore the current uses of steam engines . He summarized his results in the memorandum on the benefits that the use of steam engines on warships could provide . For this he was awarded the Order of the Dutch Lion in 1825 .

The Roentgen reports led to great changes in the navy and were the beginning of the modernization of Dutch shipbuilding. His recommendation to build ships entirely of iron or to armor above the waterline, however, displeased the naval commission, which regarded his proposals as unheard of. Nevertheless, Roentgen was honorably discharged from the Navy.

job

Founding of a shipyard

At the age of 27 years founded Roentgen in 1822 on the island of Feijenoord opposite Rotterdam the Maatschappij voor de Scheeps- Werktuigbouw Fijenoord ( Establishment Fijenoord ). In the same year, the first steamship company in the Rhine area was formed in Rotterdam, which in June 1823 opened a regular service between Rotterdam and Antwerp with the steamer "de Nederlander". In this shipping company Roentgen saw a welcome partner for using the steam ships built in his shipyard.

In 1823 Roentgen received an order to build a steamship from the Rotterdam shipping company, which had since adopted the name Nederlandsche Stoomboot Maatschappij (NSM). A regular steamboat connection from Holland to Cologne was to be operated with this ship. Roentgen built the ship using all the experience from England and the steamships built so far in the Netherlands and with the help of the Cockerill works in Seraing .

Cologne traders followed the project with great interest; a regular and fast connection to the seaports of Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Antwerp was in their interest. Finally, the Cologne-based company took part in NSM with 50 shares, which invested this capital in financing the new building.

First steamship that went to Kaub. Model in the Rhein-Museum Koblenz

The ship, named "de Zeeuw" ( the Zealander ), which was completed in 1824, was 112 feet (about 35 meters) long , 16 feet (about 5 meters) wide and 4 feet (about 1 meter) deep , 50 meters), the load capacity was 1,423 quintals . The steam engine developed 200 hp by today's standards, the two side paddle wheels, each made of 15 oak planks, had a diameter of 12 feet (about 3.70 meters). The total cost was 80,000 guilders. “De Zeeuw” was intended for the transport of people (approx. 120 people) and goods and was also set up in such a way that towing or sailing ships could also be towed on the rope.

Expedition trips

On October 26, 1824, Roentgen left Rotterdam with the De Zeeuw with the destination Cologne, which he reached on October 29 after a pure journey time of 37 hours and 17 minutes. There he made a tow attempt with a sailing ship that had loaded 2,000 quintals of grain. The test was successful and convinced the members of the Cologne Chamber of Commerce of the previously unknown performance of the steamships.

The ascent towards Koblenz was continued on the same day . Due to the onset of high water, the current at Andernach was so strong that the ship, also due to the low steam pressure, only drove at the speed of the current, i.e. stood on the spot in relation to the bank. Finally, after 5 hours, it was possible to reach Koblenz, 22 km away. Now beech wood was bought to improve the firing. St. Goar was reached with difficulty. On November 3rd, an attempt was made to drive further up the Rhine, and after converting the planks on the paddle wheels, they reached below Kaub . Below Bacharach it finally went no further. The return journey to Koblenz took just under 2 1/2 hours. The level in Koblenz was 8.20 meters. That same evening the ship reached Neuwied , his father's birthplace, and he was greeted by his relatives. The tour company and Roentgen stayed overnight in Neuwied. The further return trip via Cologne to Rotterdam went without incident.

In 1825 Roentgen undertook another expedition up the Rhine, this time with the paddle steamer De Rijn , also built by Roentgen. On September 10th he drove up the Rhine from Cologne and had to do a "lap of honor" in Koblenz for the then Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm III. insert. On September 14th, the king drove with his family and entourage from Koblenz to Cologne on the De Rijn . Then he was able to continue his ascent and reached Kehl on the Upper Rhine. This exceeded all expectations.

In 1830 Roentgen was involved in the construction of the city ​​of Mainz . With the ship Stadt Frankfurt , which reached a speed of 7.7 km / h against the current with over 300 hp, Roentgen was then able to reach Basel in June 1832.

Later work

Roentgen was not filled with the management of his shipyard. He also became Technical Director of the Nederlandsche Stoomboot Maatschappij (NSM) . This company developed into a shipping company between Rotterdam and Strasbourg as early as Roentgen's time.

In 1839 Roentgen built the first steamship for the Dutch-Indian Navy. Orders for warships from France and Russia soon followed.

In addition to his work at NSM, Roentgen also worked as a consultant and designer at the Cologne “Preußisch-Rheinische Dampfschiffahrts-Gesellschaft” and the Gutehoffnungshütte in Sterkrade. Until 1849 he was the driving force behind “Feijenoord”.

Due to a serious mental illness, Roentgen spent the last years of his life in the institution Meer en Berg in Santpoort near Velsen . There he died at the age of 57. A street in Feijenoord was named in his honor.

The man Roentgen

Roentgen undoubtedly possessed enormous willpower. Without technical training, he acquired a great deal of technical knowledge. After founding the NSM, he put many of his ideas into practice. The invention of the multiple expansion steam engine was undoubtedly the highlight of his career.

But he must have been so convinced of himself that he said that there was no better engineer than him. He even went so far as to defame other engineers like Cockrill or Paul van Vlissingen. However, this belief has been backed up by government inquiries on technical issues.

A family member once described him as follows: “Small in stature, but well built. He wasn't beautiful, his crooked nose and frizzy hair made him look Jewish. His penetrating gaze showed enormous willpower, he was domineering, he did not tolerate contradictions. ”Many of his employees were afraid of him. He also had enemies in government circles. Anthony Jan Lucas Baron Stratenus, a senior Dutch official, stated during a conflict with Roentgen that his "black and ungrateful character is all too well known".

Fonts

• Negotiating over de stoombooten , Utrecht 1825 ( digitized version )

literature

• MGde Boer Leven en bedrijf by Gerhard Moritz Roentgen, grondvester van de Nederlansche-Stoomboot-Maatschappij, thans Maatschappij voor Scheeps- en Werktuigbouw “Feijenoord”, 1823-1923, Groningen 1923
• Heimat-Jahrbuch 1974 of the district Neuwied, article "Gerhard Moritz Roentgen, the father of the Rhine shipping" by Dr. Heinz Weber

Web links

• Roentgen's work in Holland (Dutch)