City of Zurich (ship, 1855)
.jpg) Zurich city
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The city of Zurich , built in 1855, was a steamship that operated on Lake Constance . She was nicknamed the "devil's ship" because she was repeatedly involved in collisions and , according to a bon mot , sank more German ships than the Danish fleet in the German-Danish war .
history
The city of Zurich was one like her sister ship, the Thurgau , the largest and strongest flush deck steamers recordings in the mid-1850s their service on Lake Constance. The first renovation took place in 1870. In 1884 the ship was converted into the first half saloon steamer in the Swiss north-east railway fleet and was henceforth only called Zurich . It was used until the First World War . After the Zurich in Romanshorn was demolished, the shovels were reused on the Pilatus paddle steamer from Lucerne .
Accidents
Collision with the Queen of Württemberg
On March 10, 1860, she rammed the right wheel arch of the Queen of Württemberg in front of Friedrichshafen . People were not killed in the process, but there was considerable property damage.
Sinking of Ludwig
In front of what is now the old mouth of the Rhine, one year after the first accident mentioned above, on March 11, 1861 at around 6.15 p.m., in the dark and blowing snow, the city of Zurich collided with the steamer Ludwig . Although this was the first ship on Lake Constance to be equipped with an iron hull, it was already relatively old. The captain, who was supposed to provide the transfer service between Lindau and Rorschach on the day of the accident , had postponed the departure to the late afternoon due to a violent storm in order to avoid the heaviest gusts of wind. As a result, however, the compass had to be used in poor visibility. The white front light of the city of Zurich , coming from Rorschach, was mistaken for part of the Rorschach harbor lighting by the Ludwig crew . In the city of Zurich , the iron steamer was apparently not noticed at all, only found after the collision that the bowsprit had broken and water was entering the ship. The city of Zurich therefore immediately returned to the Rorschach harbor, while the Ludwig sank within a few minutes, unnoticed by her collision partner. Thirteen people and eleven head of cattle were killed in this accident. The sinking of the Ludwig by the city of Zurich was thus the worst known shipwreck on Lake Constance up to that point. One consequence of the investigations into the catastrophe was an improvement in the signal order: in addition to the white bow light, a green starboard and a red port light had to be used from now on.
Sinking of the Jura
After the Bavarian ship Ludwig sank , the Jura , which had previously been in use on Lake Neuchâtel , was purchased as a replacement . It was dismantled, brought on wagons to Lake Constance, where it was reassembled and put into service. On February 12, 1864, a foggy winter's day, the Jura was supposed to travel from Constance to Romanshorn and Lindau. However, the city of Zurich came from the opposite direction . Although each of the two ships was secured by a fog lookout and the steam whistles gave signals, a collision could not be avoided. The Jura was turning when the bow of the city of Zurich bored into its forecastle. The fog lookout of the Jura was killed and the arm of another cabin boy was torn off. The rest of the crew and all passengers of the Jura were able to escape unharmed to the city of Zurich . This remained maneuverable and was able to continue its journey to Romanshorn with the bow pushed in.
Collision with the city of Lindau
A few months after the Jura was submerged , the city of Zurich slashed a wheel arch in the Lindau harbor of the city of Lindau . A Bavarian correspondent then sarcastically suggested selling the ship to Denmark, as it had already sunk more German ships than the entire Danish navy.
Collision with the Buchhorn
In 1909 there was another incident in which the screw steamer Buchhorn was rammed. There was only minor damage.
literature
- Karl F. Fritz, Reiner Jäckle, The golden age of paddle steamers on Lake Constance , Erfurt 2013, ISBN 978-3-95400-308-2
- Karl F. Fritz, Adventure steamboat ride on Lake Constance , Meersburg ²1990, ISBN 3-927484-00-8
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ According to www.bodenseeschifffahrt.de , the ship was renamed back then, but Karl F. Fritz dates the renaming 14 years later.
- ↑ Karl F. Fritz 1990, p. 28
- ↑ www.schiffe-schweiz.ch ( Memento of the original from March 5, 2016 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.
- ↑ www.bodenseeschifffahrt.de
- ↑ Karl F. Fritz 1990, p. 33.
- ^ Bavarian courier. (Google Books) In: Volume 8, No. 47. February 17, 1864, accessed on November 21, 2013 .
- ↑ Karl F. Fritz 1990, p. 34
