Gisela (ship)

**Gisela**
Ship data
flag	Austria-Hungary Austria;
Ship type	Paddle steamer
Shipping company	Traunseeschifffahrt Karlheinz Eder GmbH
Shipyard	Joseph John Ruston, Floridsdorf
Commissioning	Spring 1872
Ship dimensions and crew
length	52 m ( Lüa )
width	4.95 m
Draft	Max. 1.50 m
displacement	135 t
Machine system
machine	Steam engine (Prager Maschinenfabrik AG)
Machine ; performance	105 kW (143 hp)
Top ; speed	12 kn (22 km / h)
Transport capacities
Permitted number of passengers	300

The Gisela is a historic paddle steamer with a riveted steel hull on the Upper Austrian Traunsee . It was named after the eldest daughter of the Austrian I. Emperor Franz Joseph named.

history

The saloon steamer was manufactured according to plans by Joseph John Ruston in Floridsdorf near Vienna , then dismantled into individual parts, transported to the Traunsee and assembled in Rindbach (today the eastern district of Ebensee) in 1871. The first test drive took place on September 24, 1871. The official commissioning took place in the spring of 1872.

From October 1877, the opened Kronprinz-Rudolf-Bahn brought numerous tourists to Gmunden. However, the sea-parallel railway soon competed with the shipping line on the lake, which thus lost its transport monopoly. However, the strong tourism brought a further boom.

During the First World War, Rudolf Ippisch (I) took over the Gisela and other ships from the interned operator, the British Ruston (II).

In 1975 the ship had to be shut down due to damage to the boiler and was opened in 1976 with the support of Upper Austria. State government put a new boiler back into operation.

After Rudolf Ippisch (II) died unexpectedly in 1976, Karl Eder took over the Traunseeschifffahrt in 1977. With notification from Upper Austria. In 1980, the state government officially withdrew Gisela's operating license and the ship was launched in Ebensee.

In 1984 Karl Eder handed over the business to his son Karlheinz. The society “Friends of the City of Gmunden” took care of the fate of Gisela , on July 5, 1986 a second approval was obtained, which Karl Eder still experienced.

Today the ship is operated by the Traunseeschifffahrt Karlheinz Eder GmbH (originally founded in 1950 by father Karl) and sailed from May to October. Its total capacity is stated by the operator as 250 people.

Special mail deliveries

According to the special postmark on May 27, 1995, the steamer Gisela was used to transport special mail from Gmunden to Ebensee (postmark 4802 Ebensee ... 5 p.m.). A program of the special postmark "Special mailing: with paddle steamer Gisela Gmunden - Ebensee": 4810 Gmunden: 06/07/1996, received a purple, two-line failure stamp "Because defect on RD" GISELA ": substitute transportation with MS" KARL EDER "" and the postmark (Postmark 4802 Ebensee ... 4 p.m.)

technology

The compound steam engine with oscillating cylinders was built in the Prager Maschinenfabrik AG. Their speed is a maximum of 36 revolutions per minute, the paddle wheels driven directly by the crankshaft, each with 12 L × W 1.68 × 0.48 m plates, have an outer diameter of 4 m.

Until 1992, the furnace was fired with 1.8 to 2.5 t of brown or hard coal on 2.2 m² of grate, acting on 80 m² of heating surface. Since 1993, the fire of 140 l / h heating oil has had an extra-light effect on 47 m² of heating surface.

Anniversary 175 years of liner shipping on the Traunsee

In 1828 a consortium led by the British John Andrews applied for a shipping privilege at the Hof-Kammer in Vienna. In 1829 the “ First Imperial and Royal Danube Steamship Company ” (later DDSG) was founded, but Andrews resigned. Andrews visited the Salzkammergut in 1836 with his master shipbuilder Josef John Ruston and received a concession to practice steam navigation on five Salzkammergut lakes. The first ship of the two British pioneers for the Traunsee was built in 1838 and commissioned as Sophie on May 15, 1839 as a paddle steamer with a wooden hull .

In 2014, a 62-cent stamp from the Austrian Post appeared with the ship in front of the Traunstein. The motif was painted in pastel chalk by the graphic artist Tristan Fischer. Furthermore, a 1000-piece puzzle of a photo of Gisela , to be seen in front of the city of Gmunden. Two special exhibitions in the Kammerhof Museums Gmunden, May – September 2014 and October – April 2015, each showed a model of the Gisela . November 2014 a shipping meeting of several days with hundreds of employees from shipping companies took place.