St. Urs
 The St. Urs in 2012
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The St. Urs is the oldest operational steamboat in Switzerland .
However, the St. Urs no longer has its original engine: the boat's first steam engine, which was manufactured by the shipyard, was expanded in 1903 at the latest and apparently has not been preserved. It had two cylinders and probably ran in conjunction, but without condensation. Presumably it was one of the rather rare tandem machines in which two cylinders acted on the same piston rod. The St. Urs is now operated with a steam engine from 1898. It comes from J. Samuel White & Co. Ltd., Shipbuilder and Engineer, East Cowes , Isle of Wight , has the hull number 72S and was originally used in the dinghy of the yacht Boiadicea . Later it was apparently expanded and stored on the Isle of Wight. Your cauldron was destroyed in an air raid during World War II. In 1949 the machine was rediscovered in a shed and installed on the Thames ship Victoria in 1958 . It was used there until the 1990s; An overhaul took place in 1988. In 1994 it came to Switzerland, where it was restored and a new boiler was installed in 2000.
history
Ferdinand von Sury initiated in the spring of 1889, the founding of Solothurn steamboat clubs (SDBC) for the after an interruption of 30 years Aareschifffahrt to revive the 30 years due to competition from the railways , had been interrupted. The SDBC initially had six members; its activities were primarily funded by Sury.
A small steamboat for a maximum of 14 people was ordered from the R. Holtz steam boat and machine factory in Harburg near Hamburg , which was also known as the Schlosswerft, and a Mr. Burkhalter was employed as an hourly stoker. Holtz built the boat with hull number 613. Why it was not only called a steam yacht, but also a school boat , is no longer known. It is possible that when the St. Urs was built , plans for customs steamer in the port of Hamburg were used, such as those made by Holtz several times. In addition to the St. Urs , Holtz built a few other boats that were delivered to Switzerland. The 13-meter-long Monte Bré , which was delivered to Lugano and now operates under the name Sirius on Lake Zurich , has been preserved.
The St. Urs arrived in Solothurn on July 4, 1889. At the time, it was greeted in the press as “a nice little vehicle in the shape of a sloop”. It is named after Saint Ursus of Solothurn , patron saint of the city.
It was used, for example, for trips to the Hohberg restaurant, which was a few kilometers above Solothurn, or to St. Petersinsel in Lake Biel . On June 8, 1890, the boat passed through Lake Biel, Lake Neuchâtel and Lake Murten within one day , which resulted in a distance of 146 kilometers and a journey through five cantons. For this she needed 550 kilos of coal and 14 hours of time.
The SDBC shrank within a few years and in 1892 only had three members. An attempt was made to find new prospects by means of a newspaper advertisement, but this was unsuccessful. So the club was dissolved and the boat was sold in 1894. His last voyage on the Aare was on November 1, 1894. On November 2, 1894, the St. Urs was transported by train to central Switzerland, to Alpnachstad . Its new owner was the ship owner Kaspar Spiller. By means of a cash discount, he lowered the purchase price of 4,000 Swiss francs by ten percent.
Conversions
Spiller had the boat converted into a tug. The Federal Railway Department issued an operating license on May 22, 1897, which was not limited in time, but was only valid for towing services without additional loads. How long the St. Urs was actually used in this way is not known. In any case, it was discovered in 1903 by the furniture manufacturer Läubli from Wilen am Sarnersee in Alpnachstad next to a shed and bought cheaply. He wanted to transport his furniture across Lake Sarnen to Sachseln by boat , where it was to be loaded onto the Brünig Railway.
Electric drive
Läubli's factory was equipped with a hydroelectric power plant, the night power of which was to be used for the batteries of the converted electric boat according to the Tribelhorn system (after the old steam engine had been removed). In addition, the wooden bulwark , the front trim and part of the cabin were removed. Apparently the St. Urs changed its name during this time and was now called Volta . It was not only used for moving furniture, but also as a tugboat and an icebreaker in the Wilen-Sachseln fairway.
Probably in the 1930s the boat was rebuilt again. It now received a closed cabin with portholes in the bow area and a smooth deck with railing and benches at the rear. The drive system was also replaced. The Volta now offered space for ten people and subsequently lost its second name. In the 1970s it was only referred to as OW 3 according to its registration number .
Läubli's carpentry and boat became the property of the Lignoform AG furniture factory in 1966. This molded plywood factory moved its material transports from the lake to the road in 1977. One of the Nauen , which had previously been used for transport, was converted into a pleasure ship, while OW 3 was initially unused. The registration number was canceled in 1978 after the boat was decommissioned. Plans to equip the boat with a diesel engine were not put into practice.
restoration
In 1987, lovers of old watercraft tried to buy the boat, but Lignoform AG refused to sell the decommissioned vehicle. It was not until 1992 that she found herself ready and the boat could be restored at the shipyard of the shipping company of Lake Lucerne, SGV.
Web links
Footnotes
- ↑ Text of the press release ( Memento of the original dated December 21, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) 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.
- ↑ Text of the advertisement ( Memento of the original dated December 21, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) 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.
