Germania (ship, 1842)

Germania

When mooring in Cologne

Ship data flag  German Empire other ship names John Cockerill II (June 1842 to August 1842) Princess of Prussia (August 1842 to March 1848) Ship type Paddle steamer home port Cologne Owner PRDG Cologne Shipping company Prussian-Rhenish Steamship Company Shipyard Societé Anonyme John Cockerill, Seraing / Liège, Belgium Build number 6th Order 1841 Keel laying 1841 Launch March 1842 Commissioning April 1842 Whereabouts scrapped in 1922

Ship dimensions and crew length 54.65 m ( Lüa ) width 5.94 m above wheel arches: 12.25 m Draft Max. 0.76 to 1.37 m displacement 177 empty

Machine system machine 2-cylinder low pressure balancing machine Machine performance 80 PSn (approx. 240 PSi) propeller 2 side wheels ∅ 4.74 m, 14 blades

Transport capacities Load capacity 63.54 dwt Permitted number of passengers 400

The paddle steamer Germania was a smooth deck ship for the transport of people and goods. The ship was built in 1841 as John Cockerill II on its own account by the Cockerill shipyard in Seraing , Belgium, and then sold on the Rhine . In 1842 it was bought by the Preußisch-Rheinische Dampfschiffahrtsgesellschaft (PRDG).

Hull and equipment

The hull was an iron structure riveted onto frames . The sailors' apartment was located in the lower deck, followed by the forward cabin with a staircase to the deck. This was followed by a freight room and the engine and boiler room amidships. In the aft ship there was the large cabin with a staircase to the main deck, a toilet and a pavilion.

On the foredeck there was a mast with a cargo boom for taking over goods. In the port wheel box were the kitchen in the front and staff cabins, toilets and a washroom in the back. On the starboard side there was a storage space in the front wheel arch and in the rear there were staff cabins, toilets and the conductor's cabin. The quarterdeck was covered with an awning. The open wheelchair was raised at the stern.

drive

The two-cylinder, low-pressure balancing steam engine installed amidships had an output of 80 hp, which corresponds to approximately 240 hp. The 106 m² boiler produced a steam pressure of 0.41 kgf / cm². The two paddle wheels each had 14 solid wooden paddles.

history

The steamer made its first test drive on the Scheldt in June 1842 with around 200 high-ranking guests from Antwerp . He reached a speed of approx. 15 km / h against the current. The ship then went to Cologne and was bought there by the Abraham Schaafhausen bank. This offered the steamer to the PRDG for 60,000 thaler. Since the company had already bought seven ships this year, it was the first time that it had to finance a ship.

From July 17, 1842, the ship was included in the summer schedule. By decision of the PRDG board of directors, the bank should give the ship a new name. At the end of August 1842 it was renamed Princess of Prussia .

In November 1843 the ship went to the Gutehoffnungshütte- Werft (GHH) in Duisburg-Ruhrort for conversion and general overhaul . There the boiler was removed and repaired, some of the deck planks were renewed, and the machine, paddle wheels and chimney were repaired. The wheel arches were also enlarged, the floor plan changed and the two large cabins refurnished. From June 16, the Princess of Prussia and the ships Prinz von Preussen , Blitz und Donner were on the express service from Strasbourg to Cologne with daily departures at five in the morning. These trips were originally intended to be done in one day, but the travel times could not be kept due to low water and heavy traffic. Therefore, from July 8, 1844, Koblenz became the destination. On August 3, the express service was discontinued.

Overhaul and renovation work at GHH in the winter months of 1846/47 and 1847/48. In March 1848 the name was changed to Germania . From June 1848 to the end of 1849 the Germania was temporarily confiscated by the Prussian government and used as a troop. Horse and weapon transporters used between Cologne and the Upper Rhine. From December 1848 to March 1849, the GHH was again in the shipyard.

Accidents

On the ascent on March 18, 1850 during an evasive maneuver between Sankt Goar and Oberwesel ran aground and sank. The ship was then lifted and towed to the GHH shipyard on April 13th. There, the bottom of the ship and the foredeck were renewed, the wheel arches and paddle wheels repaired and the remaining damage removed.

From July the Germania was back in action. During a trip as a troop transport with 400 soldiers on board, the ship ran on November 2, 1850 near Spay on the Schottelgrund and sank again. After the salvage, the ship was at the shipyard from January to May 1851 to repair the damage and carry out further repairs.

On the evening of November 27, 1880, the Germania collided with the Concordia near the island of Mönchenwerth , and both ships were damaged. A general overhaul was carried out at GHH in the winter of 1880/81. On a trip from Düsseldorf to Cologne, Zons suffered major machine damage.

On November 11, 1885, the Germania ran aground in the evening in thick fog near the Poller Köpfe above Cologne-Deutz and had a leak. On November 30th, the steamer Rubens managed to tow the ship free and bring it to the Rheinauhafen . After a makeshift sealing of the leak, Germania drove to the L. Smit & Zons shipyard in Kinderdijk for repairs on December 3rd . From May 1886 the ship was back in service.

Coming from Mannheim on the descent on June 30, 1894, the captain at Nierstein jumped out of his cabin window and drowned.

In mid-September 1900 there was an accident while docking in Cologne with a barge . In the winter of 1901/02 the shipyard was idle with repairs to the boiler system and the paddle wheels.

In June 1905, the Germania, which had previously only served as a reserve ship, was decommissioned and then used as a workshop ship. The machinery has been expanded and the Deutsches Museum in Munich as a gift left. The system has been in the machine department on Museum Island since 1925. In 1922 the ship was sold to Holland and broken up there.

literature

• Georg Fischbach: The ships of the Cologne-Düsseldorfer 1826-2004 , self-published, Marienhausen 2004, ISBN 3-00-016046-9