Motorboat operations in the city of Constance

The motorboat enterprises of the city of Konstanz led from 1911 to 1991 with passenger motorboat the first public transport of the city of Konstanz between the left and right bank districts through. The boats drove to several landing points in the Konstanz funnel between the harbor, the “Hörnle” lido and the Swiss Bottighofen . In addition, below the old Konstanzer Rheinbrücke , the Rhine kilometer zero, a passenger ferry connected the two banks of the Seerhein .

history

Private start-ups

Christian Schroff, a boat builder from Constance , opened a "Überfahrtanstalt" in 1892 and used rowing boats to transport passengers between Constance's old town and the suburb of Petershausen . The ferry service with later up to four motor boats was only successful until the First World War . In order to be able to maintain the ferry service, which is important for the population, the city of Konstanz took it over in 1916 together with the Komet ferry boat , which was only replaced by Niederburg in 1960 .

Advertisement of the Hitzler shipyard in "Hansa" 1913

In 1909 James de Reynier founded the "Motorboot-Gesellschaft mbH Konstanz" for local traffic in the Bay of Constance. The purchase of five launches with the names of the countries bordering Lake Constance led to bankruptcy a year later due to adverse circumstances despite the sale of two boats . Often referred to as Boatyard mentioned company Deurer & Kaufmann in Hamburg was not a yard, but as export agency only seller of boats from the castle yard had been made Holtz in Hamburg-Harburg, yard numbers 1653-1657. The design of the boats was based on templates from the Hitzler shipyard , with the two sister ships Württemberg and Austria being slightly larger than the other three.

Passenger motor boats of the private Motorboot-Gesellschaft mbH Konstanz

Name, year: later name	Indienst- position	shipyard	Length (m)	Engine / hp / km / h	Capacity people	Where to go, remark
to bathe	1909	Hamburg Castle Shipyard	11.00	Gasoline / 16/12	40	unknown
Bavaria 1910: Hallwyl 1959: Möve current: Griffioen	1909	Castle shipyard	11.00	Gasoline / 16/12	40	Sold in 1910, currently: in operation in Amsterdam
Württemberg 1911: Mainau 1912: Rhine 1916: Sea hare	1909	Castle shipyard	12.00	Petrol / 17/12	50	Burned out in 1916 and rebuilt sold in 1950
Switzerland 1910: Vedetta	1909	Castle shipyard	11.00	Gasoline / 16/12	40	Sold in 1910, currently: in operation on Lake Lugano
Austria 1911: Constance 1925: Rhine	1909	Castle shipyard	12.00	Petrol / 17/12	50	1910 sold to Lake Lugano, 1911 repurchased to Constance, whereabouts unknown

Municipal transport company

In 1911, the city of Konstanz founded the motor boat company of the Technischen Werke Konstanz (later: Stadtwerke Konstanz ) and took over the private company with the three remaining boats, a small shipyard and the landing stages; by the beginning of the First World War, three more boats followed. From 1915 to 1918 the city had to rent four boats to the Austrian-German Lake Constance flotilla, where they were used in the "Seewache" for border protection.

In 1916 the still active Gustav Prym followed as a replacement . The years between 1920 and 1939 were very successful with 12 boats, including the Konstanz , and an expanded network of routes, until the second world war saw the seizure of boats for "maritime surveillance".

In 1960 the Komet Rhine ferry was replaced by the Niederburg . In 1963, the Hörnle was the last boat that was put into service for traffic in the Bay of Constance before this unprofitable motorboat operation was discontinued in 1982. After the construction of a bridge with a pedestrian and cycle path , the Rhine ferry was also discontinued in 1991. This ended the 80-year existence of the first public transport company of the Konstanz municipal utilities. The line in the Bay of Constance is now operated by a private company on behalf of the Stadtwerke.

In December 2014, the city administration of Konstanz decided to conduct a study on a comprehensive local transport plan that also provides for a “water bus”. This regular line on the Seerhein is intended to link all important destinations between the Schänzlebrücke and the Rheintorturm; a private company was already offering a test phase as a “water taxi”. An extension of this line into the Constance Bay is being considered.

Passenger motor boats of the motor boat company of the Stadtwerke Konstanz

Name, year: later name	Indienst- position	shipyard	Length (m)	Engine / hp / km / h	Capacity people	Where to go, remark
Mainau	1912	unknown	11.00	Gasoline / 20/12	40	Sold in 1951
Germany	1912	Castle shipyard , Hamburg	13.00	Gasoline / 20/12	65	Sold in 1969. Since 1978 as a houseboat in Dingelsdorf
1910: comet	1896 (?)	unknown	9.10	Electric / 3/6	25th	1961 Demolition of the ferry boat
1915: seagull ? Rhine	unknown	Lürssen , Bremen	9.00	Gasoline / 5 /?	20th	unknown
Gustav Prym	1916	unknown	12.50	Gasoline / 30 / 13.5	50	1965 Conversion to a fireboat 1986 Sale, conversion in Bodman 1999 Screw steamer in excursion traffic
1918: Donna Martha 1921: Bodan 1927: Staad	unknown	Peter Lemmerz and son Königswinter / Rhine	11.90	Petrol / 15/13	40	unknown
Jacob	1922	Bodan shipyard	12.30	Gasoline / 16/12	50	Sold in 1950
1923: Meteor	1910?	Peter Lemmerz and son	11.00	Electric / 15/16	10	Sold in 1934
Laugele	1924	Lürssen	7.20	Electric / 1.5 / 6	6th	Sold in 1934
Constancy	1925	Bodan shipyard	22.65	Diesel / 84 / 18.15	140	1936 sold to the URh Schaffhausen. In operation as a sightseeing ship under monument protection
Bodan	1927	Bodan shipyard	18.50	Diesel / 40 / 15.5	80	1937 Collision with a seaplane taking off. Sunk in the port of the Bodan shipyard in 1945. Sold in 1969. On the Inn since 1982.
Weller	1948	Bodan shipyard	13.50	Diesel / 12 / 12.6	100	Sold in 1969, canceled in 1977
City of Constance	1952	Bodan shipyard	23.00	Diesel / 220/23	134	sold to private company after 1982, sold to Poland in 2013.
Niederburg	1960	Bodan shipyard	10.30	Diesel / 25/12	30th	Decommissioned as a Rhine ferry in 1991. Operates as a passenger ferry on the Peene River .
Hörnle	1963	Bodan shipyard	20.00	Diesel / 155/23	100	1982 sold to Lake Sarnen.

Motor boats still in existence

At least seven of the 20 motor boats used are still preserved, some of them almost in their original condition.

Bavaria (1909)

The Bayern came into the possession of the shipping company Hallwilersee and perverse as Hallwyl . In 1959 a heavy storm moved across Lake Hallwil and severely damaged the ship at its berth. From the shell that now was Gull rebuilt. The Möve was taken out of service in 1998 and first sold to Stein am Rhein and three years later to the Netherlands . Today the ship operates as a nostalgic saloon boat called Griffioen in the canals of Amsterdam .

Switzerland (1909)

The Gustav Prym : 50 years in regular service, then a fire engine, now a screw steamer in excursion traffic

Two other boats from the Constance Motorboat Company, Switzerland and Austria , were sold to Lake Lugano . The buyer was the Società la Vedetta . The Austria was returned to Lake Constance after just one year after the establishment of a rescue company in Konstanz with public capital. The Switzerland under the building no. Built in 1657 in the spring of 1909, it is the only vehicle of the Società la Vedetta that still operates under the name Vedetta on Lake Lugano, today it carries the flag of the SNL. In recent years the Vedetta has been used as a work boat in almost its original state. After the installation of an electric motor and collectors, it will operate externally changed as of 2016 as the first Swiss solar passenger ship.

Gustav Prym (1916)

→ Main article : Gustav Prym (ship)

The Gustav Prym ran in regular service from 1916 . In 1965 it was converted into a fire engine and privately restored in the 1990s. The Lloyd petrol engine was replaced by a steam engine.

Constance (1925)

The constant corresponds building which is almost the original 1925

→ Main article : Konstanz (Schiff, 1925)

The Konstanz was commissioned by the motorboat company of the Stadtwerke Konstanz in 1925 and was their property for ten years. However, it has been used continuously by the Swiss Shipping Company Untersee und Rhein (URh) since it was commissioned in 1925 .

City of Constance (1952)

The motor ship Stadt Konstanz was built in 1952 by the Bodan shipyard in Kressbronn on Lake Constance for the motorboat operation of the Stadtwerke Konstanz and was the prototype of the bird of prey class . It was used there and for excursions to the island of Mainau until the cessation of urban motorboat traffic in the Bay of Constance in 1982 . After being used as a work ship , it came into the possession of various private boat companies until it was bought by the Stadtwerke subsidiary Bodensee-Schiffsbetriebe (BSB) in 2012 . Since a necessary renovation was not profitable, the boat was sold to Poland in 2013.

Niederburg (1960)

The motorboat built in 1960 by the Bodan shipyard replaced the Komet , which for 50 years had connected the old town ("Niederburg") with the Petershausen district on the right bank of the Rhine as a passenger ferry on the Seerhein below the old Rhine bridge. It was much more powerfully motorized and faster, with roughly the same size and capacity. After the unprofitable line was the last to be discontinued by Stadtwerke Konstanz in 1991, the Niederburg was sold and now operates as the Lisa passenger and bicycle ferry on the Peenestrom between Kamp and Karnin on the island of Usedom , near the historic, destroyed lift bridge Karnin . The bow of the boat has been modified to make it easier to transport bicycles.

Hörnle (1963)

The motorboat, built in 1963 by the Bodan shipyard, was used on the line in the Konstanz funnel. Since it was sold in 1982, the boat has been making tours on Lake Sarnen in Switzerland as a starfish .

See also

• Passenger motor boats of the Deutsche Reichsbahn on Lake Constance

literature

• Unless otherwise noted, all information is taken from: Stadtwerke Konstanz (publisher): Motorboat operation of the Stadtwerke Konstanz. 1911-1991. The interesting story of the first public transport company in the city of Constance. Text: Christoph Halves. Verlag Stadtwerke, Konstanz 1991. Individual publication reference number 75601809.

Footnotes

1. ↑ Stefano Butti: Hamburg Ships for Switzerland (Part 1, The Castle Shipyard). In: Dampferzeitung , 4/2014, No. 179, Lucerne, December 2014 and Schlosswerft Holtz and agency Deurer & Kaufmann
2. ↑ Claudia Wagner: There is no lack of ideas . In: Südkurier of December 9, 2014 and reintroduction of the water taxi: Ferry operator offers test phase. In: Südkurier of December 29, 2014.
3. ^ Südkurier: 105-year-old MS Deutschland is being sold: the ten-pfennig ferry leaves Lake Constance. May 5, 2018, accessed August 8, 2018 . 
4. ↑ see footnote (1)
5. ↑ Quote Stefano Butti (formally slightly changed), Dampferzeitung , 4/2014.
6. ↑ The Griffioen , formerly Bavaria ( Memento from December 16, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
7. ↑ Stefano Butti, Dampferzeitung , 4/2014
8. ↑ The Vedetta , formerly Switzerland
9. ↑ The city ​​of Konstanz on bodenseeschifffahrt.de
10. ↑ Recordings from the former ferry service of the Niederburg Rhine ferry . Status 1978.
11. ↑ Today's appearance of the Niederburg
12. ↑ The two tables have been supplemented according to the content of the article.