Zille (boat type)
The term Zille describes a family of flat-bottomed watercraft that can be found in the German and Austrian Danube region to this day . It belongs to the group of coffee barges , which are characterized by the pointed ends of the hull. The Weidling and the Tübingen punt are of a similar design in other areas .
Boat description
Barges are simply constructed boats between five and 30 m long. Smaller barges were basically uncovered, the larger barges for freight or passenger transport had house-like superstructures amidships. Zillen have a flat bottom and straight side walls that are mostly pointed at the front. Depending on the type of rill, the stern is either tapered, wide or (for several decades) even designed as a mirror for engine operation. The Zille lies in the water with a shallow draft and is relatively stable. Small barges are steered and driven with so-called "rowing oars", paddles with a forked iron tip. Large barges had long rowing trees fore and aft along the direction of travel, as well as so-called "nauzug" trains at the sides, which were mainly used when mooring and casting off. Historical freight barges were beyond usually towed or sailed.
The length of today's barges rarely exceeds 10 m, in the 19th century the freight barges were not infrequently over 30 m long. The large Zillen family includes slender boats with a pointed bow and stern as well as small "Schugge" with wide ship ends or "Stick Zillen" with a stem-like bow construction and a protruding stern that is closed by a beam, the "lying stick". The name Platte is also used in particular for vehicles built wider aft ; These vehicles also belong to the "Zillen" family.
history
While the boats were initially a maximum of 22 m long and 3 m wide, their dimensions increased over time. Towards the end of the 19th century they reached sizes of up to 30 meters in length and 7.5 meters in width. The side wall of these boats was about 1.5 meters high. In the middle of the ship was a larger wooden hut. When goods were transported, the goods were stored here; when emigrating , this was the weather protection of the passengers. Barges were used in large areas of the Danube basin . The well-known Ulmer Schachtel is also a barge from the boat type. The watercraft that ran to Vienna according to the schedule were mostly painted in the city colors, a black and white stripe pattern.
A Bohemian variant was built on the Vltava and also mostly transported as a one-way ship with freight across the Elbe to the Märkische areas. The wreck of such a vehicle, lifted in 1984, is now in the permanent shipping exhibition of the German Museum of Technology in Berlin .
At the beginning of the 19th century, the Ulmer Schachtel boat was used by German emigrants as a means of transport to get to the countries of southeastern Europe. They embarked in Germany and drove down the Danube towards the Black Sea .
today
The Zille boat type is still used today as a work, fishing and leisure boat. They are still made from coniferous wood, mainly larch and spruce. There are production facilities mainly on the Upper Austrian Danube near Engelhartszell . On the left bank of the river there are two family businesses that have been doing the shipbuilding trade for several centuries. The sizes produced here are around 4 to 12 meters long, but in exceptional cases far more. Some fixed types of barge are offered, such as fire fighting barges with standardized dimensions. All other barges are custom-made and tailor-made for the respective purpose. This flexibility is still the strength of this type of boat today. Due to the simple design, there is a very favorable price-performance ratio compared to modern designs. The proverbial robustness of the barges offers good chances for the continued existence of these traditional watercraft. The annual Zillensport Championships are of regional importance.
The area of application of barges is as diverse as their construction: barges were and are mainly used for fishing, as work boats in hydraulic engineering or as emergency and rescue vehicles at ferry stations and in the service of fire departments. Their traditional area of application includes, above all, the transport of goods and people. In addition, barges were used as wagon and passenger ferries and for gravel and sand extraction.
At the Ulmer Fischerstechen , barges are driven.
More barges
The list names other barges and their carrying capacity:
- Large Arzzille (Arbzille) from 3,000 to 4,000 quintals
- Small Arzzille of 2,000 quintals
- Passau and Wachau Kelheimer 3000 to 3500 quintals
- Large logs from 2000 to 3000 quintals
- Small logs of 1500 quintals
- Wachau chamois from 2000 to 2500 quintals
- Siebnerin in three sizes:
- from 800 to 900 quintals
- from 500 to 700 quintals
- from 400 to 600 quintals
- Six in three sizes:
- from 600 to 700 quintals
- from 400 to 700 quintals
- from 500 to 700 quintals
- smallest type from 300 to 600 quintals
- Seenursch in three sizes:
- from 500 to 800 quintals
- from 400 to 700 quintals
- Smallest genus from 300 to 600 quintals
- Oberbergerin from 600 to 900 quintals
- Schwabenzille of 300 850 quintals
- Rosszille from 500 to 800 quintals
- Community square from 500 to 800 quintals
- Neunerzille from 300 to 850 quintals
- Waidhofner or Waldzille from 200 to 500 quintals
- Hallasch from 300 to 400 quintals
- Fishing barges from 300 to 400 quintals small barges
- Nursch and the Waidzillen up to 180 quintals
literature
- Jenny Sarrazin, André van Holk: Schopper and Zillen . An introduction to traditional wooden shipbuilding in the German Danube region. Kabel Verlag, Hamburg 1996, ISBN 3-8225-0334-7 .
- Karl Ebner: Floating and shipping on inland waters with special consideration of timber transports in Austria, Germany and Western Russia . Vienna / Leipzig 1912.
- Ernst Neweklowsky: Shipping on the Danube and its tributaries. (= Deutsches Museum. Reports and treatises, 26th year, issue 3). 1952.
- Michael Sohn: Coffee boats . A bygone form of barge. Self-published by Sohn-Art, Hennigsdorf 2013, ISBN 978-3-00-041659-0 .
- Kurt Schaefer: Historic ships in Vienna . Neuer Wissenschaftlicher Verlag, 2002, ISBN 3-7083-0037-8 .
Web links
- Construction plan of a barge at the "Austrian Barge Sports Association" (ÖZSV)
- History-Tyrol: Inland navigation in the High and Late Middle Ages (accessed on July 7, 2017)
Individual evidence
- ^ Joseph Hain: Handbook of Statistics of the Austrian Imperial State. Volume 2, Verlag Tendler & Co., Vienna 1853, p. 402.