Jura (ship, 1854)
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The Jura was a smooth-deck paddle wheel steamer made of wood, which was built for shipping on Lake Neuchâtel, sold to Lake Constance after seven years of service and sank in 1864 after a collision with the city of Zurich .
history
The Jura was built in 1854 by the Escher-Wyss machine factory in Zurich . On September 7 of the same year, the ship was put into service by the Société des Bateaux à vapeur du lac du Neuchâtel on Lake Neuchâtel .
In 1861 the ship was advertised for sale and acquired by the Lindau Steamship Inspection as a replacement for the steamship Ludwig , which sank after a collision . For the transport to Lake Constance , the ship was dismantled and loaded with several carts. The ship had a total length of 46.30 meters. The length in the waterline was 41.30 meters. It was 10.25 meters wide and the draft was about 90 centimeters. The Jura was powered by a steam engine with 45 hp , which gave it a top speed of 18.5 km / h. The maximum permitted passenger capacity was 400 people.
The downfall
On February 12, 1864, the Jura sailed the course line from Constance via Romanshorn to Lindau. Despite the fog look, signal horns and an attempt to evade, the collision with the city of Zurich could not be avoided around 11 a.m. In front of Münsterlingen , the bow of the city of Zurich tore the foredeck of the Jura open and the fog-eye of the Bavarian ship was crushed. Another cabin boy had the arm ripped off. The Jura sank in just four minutes . The remaining crew members and passengers were able to save themselves on the city of Zurich .
Since the city of Zurich had sunk the Ludwig in a collision less than three years earlier and collided with the city of Lindau only a few months after the sinking of the Jura in Lindau harbor , the ship became very unpopular, especially in Bavaria.
discovery
In February 1953, Ludwig Hain discovered the wreck of the ship at a depth of approx. 38 meters off Bottighofen while searching for an aircraft that had crashed during World War II . His diving colleague Heinz-Günter Masermann made the first underwater recordings in 1969, which are kept in the archives of the Friedrichshafen diving club (TSCF). Then the wreck was forgotten again until it was rediscovered by Hans Gerber in 1976. The ship, which is now regarded by divers as the most famous freshwater wreck in Europe, stands almost flat on the keel on the lake bed. The bow is covered with mud that was dumped at this point after dredging for the port of Kreuzlingen .
Objects from the Jura
The ship's bell weighing 47 kilograms, bottles, a pressure gauge and the ship's lettering were recovered from the Jura. The ship's bell is exhibited in the Seemuseum (Kreuzlingen) .
Salvage plans and industrial monument
A rescue would have its charm, because the Jura is the oldest existing steamship in the world. With her, a ship from the late Biedermeier would be available, from an era from which there are hardly any technical monuments.
The Historical Shipping Foundation of Lake Constance , based in Tägerwilen , Switzerland , intends to salvage and restore the ship. The cost volume is estimated at around 3.5 million euros, because the ship with its wooden hull and folding chimney is in poor condition. This is also to blame for scuba divers who are addicted to souvenirs, but also the above-mentioned dumping of mud over the wreck, commercial shipping, fishing and of course the ravages of time.
On December 7, 2004, the government council of the canton of Thurgau placed the Jura under protection as an “underwater industrial monument” and authorized the Department of Archeology in Frauenfeld to determine whether it should be salvaged or investigated. The ship is to be protected from further destruction with safeguards that have been developed in cooperation with the Office for Archeology, the recreational diving associations from Austria , Germany and Switzerland as well as the water police .
Jura exhibitions
- August 31, 2016 –...: Stories from the lake bottom. The steamship Jura. In: Seemuseum (Kreuzlingen) .
Excursus: Other historical ships on Lake Constance
The restored or even reconstructed ship, together with the Hohentwiel from 1913 and the 12-person steamship Gustav Prym from 1916, would represent the development of shipping on Lake Constance. The old-timer fleet is also complemented by the Konstanz , the oldest European car ferry on inland water , built in 1928 .
Web links
- The history of the Jura in the Seemuseum Kreuzlingen (on bodenseeschifffahrt.de)
- Description of the dive site and photos
Footnotes
- ^ Bavarian courier. (Google Books) In: Volume 8, No. 47. February 17, 1864, accessed on November 21, 2013 .
- ↑ Volksbote. (Google Books) for the citizen and farmer. In: No. 37 February 16, 1864, accessed November 21, 2013 .
- ↑ Jura - Bottighofen. In: swiss-divers.ch. SWISS DIVERS, accessed on June 23, 2018 .
- ↑ Michèle Vaterlaus: The bell of the sunken Jura reappears. In: Südkurier of August 27, 2016.
- ↑ Katy Cuko: When the "Jura" reappeared. In: Südkurier , April 24, 2019, p. 27.
- ^ Hans Gerber: Technical information & search. Retrieved November 21, 2013 .
- ↑ Michèle Vaterlaus: The bell of the sunken Jura reappears. In: Südkurier of August 27, 2016.
- ↑ Katy Cuko: When the "Jura" reappeared. In: Südkurier , April 24, 2019, p. 27.
- ↑ Dr. Hansjörg Brem: A wreck stirs the mind. (PDF; 84 kB) The Jura steamship off Bottighofen / TG, Switzerland. (No longer available online.) In: NAU 13. Office for Archeology of the Canton of Thurgau , 2006, pp. 97–98 , archived from the original on May 18, 2015 ; Retrieved November 21, 2013 . 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.
- ↑ The Seemuseum in Kreuzlingen
Coordinates: 47 ° 39 ′ 0 ″ N , 9 ° 13 ′ 0 ″ E