Gunnar Hammershaimb

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Gunnar Hammershaimb (born May 16, 1862 in the Faroe Islands , † June 1, 1947 in Winterthur ) was a Faroese shipbuilding engineer who mainly worked in Switzerland . As part of his work at Sulzer , among other things, he constructed a fleet of paddle steamers designed according to uniform principles for the Lake Geneva Shipping Company (CGN), the ships of which are now largely listed .

life and work

Gunnar Hammershaimb was born as the son of the pastor and philologist VU Hammershaimb , the founder of the modern Faroese written language . As a ten-year-old Gunnar Hammershaimb was sent to Copenhagen to attend a school to prepare for a career in the maritime sector. He turned to shipbuilding; He received his practical training at Burmeister & Wain . After stays in Scotland and Trondheim in Norway, he went to Sulzer in Winterthur , Switzerland , where in 1889 he was responsible for the construction of the Gotthard paddle steamer for the Lake Lucerne Steamship Company . After further activities in Norway, Hammershaimb finally settled in Winterthur in 1895 to continue working as a shipbuilding engineer for Sulzer.

In an obituary, Hammershaimb is credited with creating the type of large, elegant paddle steamer that is characteristic of the Swiss lakes.

Lake Geneva Fleet

La Suisse on Lake Geneva

In addition to other ships for Swiss lakes as well as Lake Constance and Lake Lugano , Hammershaimb constructed a fleet of twelve paddle steamers for passenger navigation on Lake Geneva between 1896 and 1927 , which is considered to be unique in the world due to its structural uniformity. Nine of these have been preserved, with the first ship in the series, the Genève from 1896, being converted to diesel propulsion as early as 1933/34 and decommissioned in 1973. It is permanently anchored in Geneva , where it is used by a non-profit association. Of the remaining eight ships, three were converted to diesel-powered wheelboats, four still have their original steam engine and one, the Montreux from 1903/04, received a new steam engine in 2001. They are listed as objects of protection class A (the paddle steamers La Suisse , Savoie , Simplon and Rhône ) or B (the paddle steamers Montreux and the motorized wheeled ships Vevey , Helvétie and Italie ) in the Swiss inventory of cultural assets of national and regional importance . In 2014, the historic fleet was awarded the Europa Nostra Prize .

Untersee and Rhine

On May 6, 1913, the last and largest river steamer Schaffhausen with a capacity of 400 people was commissioned by the Swiss shipping company Untersee und Rhein , the designer of the ship was the now legendary Gunnar Hammershaimb, the ship was built in Winterthur by the Sulzer brothers .

literature

  • Edouard Meystre: Gunnar Hammershaimb . In: Schweizerische Bauzeitung . 65th year, no. 30 , 1947, pp. 413 ( online at E-Periodica ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c 150 years of shipbuilding engineer Gunnar Hammershaimb . Ship agency. May 20, 2012. Archived from the original on September 29, 2015. Retrieved on August 16, 2015.
  2. ↑ a b c Ed. Meystre: Gunnar Hammershaimb . In: Schweizerische Bauzeitung . 65th year, no. 30 , 1947, pp. 413 ( online at E-Periodica ).
  3. ↑ a b Didier Zuchuat: The lost treasures of the Belle Epoque fleet . In: À toute vapeur . No. 5 . Amis des bateaux à vapeur du Léman, Lausanne 2015, p. 42 .
  4. ↑ A – Objects GE 2018 . Swiss inventory of cultural assets of national importance. In: babs.admin.ch / kulturgueterschutz.ch. Federal Office for Civil Protection FOCP - Department of Cultural Property Protection, January 1, 2018, accessed on August 16, 2015. (PDF; 92 kB, 14 pages, updated annually, no changes for 2018).
  5. ↑ B objects GE 2018 . Canton de Genève Inventaire PBC, objets B, état: 1.1.2018 (pas de changements pour 2018) / Kanton Geneva KGS inventory, B objects, status: 1.1.2018 (no changes for 2018). In: babs.admin.ch / kulturgueterschutz.ch. Federal Office for Civil Protection FOCP - Department of Cultural Property Protection, January 1, 2018, accessed on August 16, 2015. (PDF; 272 kB, 6 pages, updated annually, no changes for 2018).
  6. ↑ Belle Epoque steamers on Lake Geneva ( English ) Europa Nostra. March 20, 2014. Accessed May 31, 2020.
  7. ↑ Karl F. Fritz: All capers of nature and the change of time successfully defied. The shipping company Untersee & Rhein celebrates its 150th anniversary in April 2015 . In: Bodenseeschifffahrt . Accessed May 31, 2020.
personal data
SURNAME Hammershaimb, Gunnar
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Faroese naval engineer
DATE OF BIRTH May 16, 1862
PLACE OF BIRTH Faroe Islands
DATE OF DEATH June 1, 1947
Place of death Winterthur