The Havel had a wooden hull in clinker construction . After being commissioned as a smooth-deck steamer , the ship drove for the Royal Prussian Sea Trade and was used in various ways, including for transporting people and goods between Potsdam and Hamburg . Just one year after commissioning, damage to the hull was evident, caused by vibrations during operation of the steam engine. On the Havel , unlike on other ships, the chimney was not located between the wheel arches, but was moved further to the stern. During the summer months she was often used for pleasure trips from Potsdam to the Pfaueninsel . These trips were so popular that as early as 1838 a richly decorated gondola was purchased as a tugboat for the Havel for 1080 thalers . The departures from Potsdam were announced in the daily press. On days when the island was open to the public, there were six round trips, the first departure at 6.30 a.m. In the summer of 1846 the railroad started operating from Berlin to Magdeburg and at the end of the year the train service between Berlin and Hamburg, which led to the suspension of shipping on this route.
The time after the sale
On April 19, 1852, the United Saxon-Bohemian Steamship Company bought the ship for 2500 thalers. After a renovation, the ship was put into service as the city of Meissen . It was used for passenger and freight traffic between Dresden and Meißen . In the autumn of 1857 the ship was decommissioned and sold for scrapping.
The steam engine
The steam engine was an oscillating low-pressure two-cylinder twin steam engine of the John Penn type with an output of 96 hp . The machine, like the two-flame tube suitcase boiler , was built by the mechanical engineering company William Fairbairn & Co. in Manchester .
Captain of the ship
Friedrich Gotthelf Keilig 1855–1857
literature
Kurt Groggert: Passenger shipping on the Havel and Spree . Berlin contributions to the history of technology and industrial culture, Vol. 10, Nicolaische Verlagsbuchhandlung, Berlin 1988, ISBN 3-7759-0153-1 , pages 67 ff.
Hans Rindt: The Weisse Flotte Dresden . Deutsches Schiffahrtsarchiv 3, pages 69–114.
Address and business manual of the royal capital and residence city of Dresden 1855 to 1857