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River Danube : Braila, Romania
PS Borcea

Borcea in 2008 in a photo kindly supplied by Kacsor Jozsef.

Built 1914 at Turnu Severin
Length : 39.43 m :  breadth : 10.9 metres
Engines : Compound Diagonal by Sachsenberg (of Rosslau)
Coal fired


Borcea was originally a royal yacht for King Ferdinand. She was later converted to a passenger ship. Siezed by the Soviets during World War II and towed to Odessa, but returned when she was damaged by fire. Used for cruises and holidays for communist youth organisations until withdrawal in 1971 when she was laid up and faced scrapping. She then had various uses including as a steam generator at a fish-canning factory. She was designated as a national Historical Monument in 1984 and repair work took place intermittently. A sale to Swiss interests failed after the intervention of the Director of the Museum of Braila and work resumed in 2000. By 2005 the structure was fully repaired and money then allocated for a refurbishment of the interior. This contract has erupted in controvery regarding money and the choice of contractor, with the quality of work being claimed to be sub-standard. She is owned by the Ministry of Education and Heritage. She is still in operable condition and in October 2010 was restored sufficiently to be offering schoolchildren short one-hour cruises from Braila.

Photos taken in 2012 with brief vessel history : http://pato.ro/2012/02/vaporul-cu-zbaturi-borcea.html



Above : Photo kindly supplied by Cristian Munteanu
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