Praha (ship, 1887)
 Paddle steamer František Josef I. on the Vltava
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The paddle steamer Praha was built in 1886 in the Karolinenthal shipyard in Prague by the shipbuilding and mechanical engineering company Ruston & Co. The ship was under the name I. František Josef with the hull number 101 to set keel and put into service on 30 April 1887th It was named after Franz Joseph I , Emperor of Austria. In 1918 the name was changed to Zbraslav , 1928 to Praha , 1942 to Prague and 1945 to Praha .
history
The time after commissioning until 1945
After commissioning on April 30, 1887, the ship drove for the Prague Steamship Company on the Vltava (Pražská společnost pro paroplavbu na řece Vltavě). The ship was initially used on the Prague - Zbraslav route. The trips also led to Davle and Štěchovice . The smooth deck steamer had a small upper deck in the area of the wheel arches. Despite the obstructed view as a result, the ship was steered manually from the stern according to the instructions of the master.
On May 19, 1898, the worst accident in the history of Prague steam navigation occurred. At 7.35 a.m. the steam boiler of the ship lying on the quay at the Palacky Bridge exploded. The explosion claimed three lives, the ship's cashier Jaroslav Horáček, as well as Ignác Schreiber, a goldsmith from Vinohrady, and his ten-year-old son. Another fifteen people were injured. There were only a few people on board the ship at the time of the accident, as the Ferdinand I had cast off fully occupied shortly before . The shipbuilding company Schinke from the Zahnsgrund in Bad Schandau lifted the wreck and temporarily repaired it. It was then rebuilt by the Prague Shipbuilding Corporation. The ship received a new middle section and a new steam boiler. It was put back into service in 1899. The cause of the sudden rise in vapor pressure has not been fully understood. The fully open main steam valve suggested tampering. However, the report also states that the material of the riveted connections, especially on the steam dome, did not comply with the regulations.
Since the ship bore the name of a monarch, it was renamed Zbraslav after the Zbraslav district of Prague with the establishment of the First Czechoslovak Republic in October 1918 . A steam steering engine was also installed during an overhaul of the ship.
To maintain the good relationship between the PPS and the new Czech government, cruises were organized for members of the government.
On June 10, 1920, the first President of Czechoslovakia, Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk , together with Ministers Jiří Stříbrný , Bohuslav Vrbenský, Anton Štefánek and Stanislav Špaček took the Zbraslav on such a trip on the Vltava.
In 1926 the Prague banker Ferdinand Napravil was appointed chairman of the PPS board. He fundamentally restructured the company. Evening trips with music and dance were offered for the first time in 1929. The Zbraslav, renamed Praha in the same year, was used for this purpose. On January 1, 1937, the PPS was incorporated into the newly founded Československou plavební akciovou společností labskou (ČPSL). After the occupation of the Czecho-Slovak Republic in March 1939 by German troops, the ČPSL was renamed the Böhmisch-Mährische Elbeschiffahrt AG (BMES). The names of the ships were retained for the time being. It was not until 1942, when Richard Tauche, the company's deputy general manager, that the ships were renamed. The Praha got the name Prague .
The time after 1945
After the end of the Second World War , the ship was renamed Praha again in 1945 . It was subjected to a reconstruction. The wheel arches were enlarged and a small front deck saloon was built. On February 22, 1948, the PPS was nationalized and deleted from the commercial register in 1950. On January 1, 1949, the ČPSL was renamed Československá plavba Labská (ČSPL) and on July 1, 1952 in Československá plavba labsko-oderská (ČSPLO).
In 1950 the ship was used for two-day trips from Prague to Hřensko (Herrnskretschen). On the first day the journey went from Prague to Děčín (Tetschen). After an overnight stay in the hotel, the ship went to Hřensko the next day. A visit to the Prebish Gate was on the program. In the evening the passengers were brought back to Prague by train from Děčín.
In 1961, passenger shipping in Czechoslovakia was restructured. The Praha was assigned to the newly founded Dopravnímu podniku - Osobní lodní doprava (DP-OLD) of the Prague public transport company and was mainly used in the Prague area as an excursion steamer.
In 1973 she was decommissioned. After being used as a building material store under the name Včela (bee), it was scrapped in 1974.
The steam engine
The steam engine was a horizontal, low-pressure two-cylinder twin steam engine with injection condensation with the construction number 1075. The output was 120 hp. Like the boiler, it was built by the shipbuilding and mechanical engineering company Ruston & Co. in Prague. The Praha was the first Bohemian steamship with such a machine. In 1942 the engine was extensively reconstructed and the ship received a new steam boiler.
literature
- Miroslav Hubert, Michael Bor: Osobní lodě na Vltavě 1865 - 1985 . Transport and Communication Publishing House, Prague, 1985.
- Vodní cesty a plavba 3/2015 pp. 11–15
- Vodní cesty a plavba 4/2015 pp. 14-19
Web links
- Information on shipping accessed on August 18, 2017