Wilhelm Tell (ship, 1908)

William Tell

The Wilhelm Tell 2011 in Lucerne

Ship data flag  Switzerland Ship type Paddle steamer home port Lucerne Shipping company Shipping company of Lake Lucerne Shipyard Sulzer Brothers, Winterthur Commissioning 17th August 1908 Decommissioning 1970 Whereabouts Restaurant ship in Lucerne

Ship dimensions and crew length 63.0 m ( Lüa ) width 7.2 over wheel arches: 14.3 m Side height 2.67 m Draft Max. 1.42 m displacement 320  t   crew 8 men

Machine system machine Inclined 2-cylinder compound machine Machine performance 700 hp (515 kW) Top speed 14.8 kn (27 km / h) propeller 2 paddle wheels

Transport capacities Permitted number of passengers 1000

The Wilhelm Tell is a paddle wheel steamer on Lake Lucerne in Switzerland . It was operated by the Shipping Company of the Vierwaldstättersee (SGV), decommissioned in 1970 and has served as a permanent restaurant ship on Schweizerhofquai in Lucerne since 1972 .

history

The former steamship company of the Vierwaldstättersee (DGV) ordered the ship from Sulzer in Winterthur in 1907 as the sister ship of the Schiller (Schiff, 1906) , whose technical data are practically identical to those of Wilhelm Tell . Like the Schiller , the Wilhelm Tell was designed for a load capacity of 1000 passengers. A paddle steamer, which previously operated under the name Wilhelm Tell and was commissioned in 1864, was renamed Reuss . The new Wilhelm Tell started operations on August 17, 1908. A sloping Sulzer two-cylinder superheated steam composite steam engine with an output of 700 hp served as the drive .

Around 1920 the Wilhelm Tell , which, like the other steamships of its generation, originally had an open steering position, was given a wheelhouse. The first major overhaul took place in 1931. In 1949/50 the firing of the steam boilers was switched from coal to heavy oil and in 1952 another major overhaul was carried out.

After the last major overhaul in 1968, the shipping company decided in 1970 to replace the Wilhelm Tell with its new motor ship Gotthard , and the paddle steamer was taken out of service at the end of the season. On this occasion, the SGV's policy of gradually decommissioning its steamboats and replacing them with motor ships led to broader resistance among the population for the first time. A collection of signatures in 1970 was followed by an appeal by an action committee for the preservation of steamships in 1971, and finally in 1972 the founding of the Lake Lucerne Steamers Friends .

The Wilhelm Tell was sold to a Lucerne restaurant operator in 1971. The condition was made that the exterior of the ship must not be changed and that the engine must at least be preserved in its visible parts. The steam boilers were expanded to enable the kitchen to be enlarged. To improve stability, concrete was poured to replace the steam boiler in the middle part of the ship. The opening of the restaurant took place on June 2, 1972. Since then, various renovation and restoration work has been carried out, including a restoration of the 1st class salon in 1998. The Wilhelm Tell was towed several times to the SGV shipyard, where the hull was checked and revised. In 2009 the ship's bell, believed to be lost, was discovered by chance in the SGV archive.

commitment

The nautical qualities of the Wilhelm Tell were considered to be excellent, even if compared to the other steamers of the same capacity it was somewhat sluggish. Until it was taken out of service, it was in service without any particular incident.

literature

• Erich Liechti et al .: Shipping on Lake Lucerne . History and register of ships. Verlag Eisenbahn, Villigen 1974, ISBN 3-85649-021-3 .

Web link

Commons : Wilhelm Tell (Schiff, 1908)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Ship restaurant Wilhelm Tell , official website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Erich Liechti et al .: Shipping on Lake Lucerne . History and register of ships. Verlag Eisenbahn, Villigen 1974, ISBN 3-85649-021-3 , p. 54-55 .
2. ↑ Technical data . Ship restaurant Wilhelm Tell. Archived from the original on January 18, 2012. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved September 28, 2011. 
3. ^ Dampferfreunde Vierwaldstättersee: Chronology of the actions of the steamer friends . Steamer friends Lake Lucerne. Archived from the original on October 23, 2013. 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. Retrieved September 28, 2011. 
4. ↑ ^{a b c} Kurt Hunziker: DS Wilhelm Tell - a legend . In: Dampferzeitung . Volume 37, No. 1 , 2008 ( PDF file; 825 KB , schiffrestaurant.ch).
5. ↑ The history of the saloon paddle steamer Wilhelm Tell II (PDF; 80 KB) Schiffrestaurant Wilhelm Tell. Archived from the original on January 12, 2016. 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. Retrieved September 28, 2011. 
6. ↑ Michael Graber: "Tell" ship's bell lost for almost 40 years . In: Neue Luzerner Zeitung . October 29, 2009. Retrieved September 28, 2011.