paddlesteamers.info : The Internet's leading website for
Side-Wheeled Paddle Steamers
River
Elbe - Dresden : Historical
Database
July 8th, 1836 is
regarded as the date for the "birth" of what remains today the
largest paddle steamer fleet in the world, as on this date the
Elbdampfschiffahrts-Gesellschaft received assent from the Saxon
authorities for its plans to introduce passeger and cargo steamer
services on the Elbe in the Kingdom of Saxony. The reluctance of the
authorities to sanction this modern form of transport meant that
Dresden did not see its first steamship until 20 years after services
had begun in many other comparable areas in Europe and the USA. The
first steamer at Dresden was a stern-wheel tug built for a local
industrialist Heinrich Wilhelm Calberla which operated from 1835 to
1837.
The company encountered little competition, taking over the assets of
the companies who did attempt to compete. The fleet reached its
largest size in 1915 (34 steamers). Only three vessels were built
after the war, the last being PS Leipzig, one of the members of the
current fleet.
It was not until 1944 that there was a significant effect on the
fleet during the war, when many ships were requisitioned to evacuate
civilians from the bombings at Hamburg near the mouth of the Elbe and
in 1945 when the land war came to this part of Germany. Losses were
not significant, but a number
of the most modern steamers were transferred to the Soviet Union in
the aftermath of the war.
Although no new steamers were built once the
fleet came under control of the East German state, four
diesel-electric paddlers were put into service. The reunification of
Germany in 1989 brought great uncertainty : the fleet and the
business had to be sold to private interests and the continued
existence of a large fleet of ageing and potentially uneconomic
vessels was by no means certain. Fortunately the new owners have
retained the steamer fleet, modernised the vessels and even
re-purchased a former fleet member. The four diesel-electric paddlers
were sacrificed and two large new motor vessels
substituted.
Historical Paddle
Steamers : dates shown are dates for service in the Dresden area
Konigin Maria (1837-1846)
Prinz Albert (1839-1844)
Dresden (1838-1841) : Sold for use at Hamburg
Prinz Albert (1845-1857)
Friedrich August (1846-1854)
Konigin Maria (1847-1859)
Bohemia (1851-1856) : Built 1841
Bohmen (1851-1856 ) : Built 1845 as Germania
Telegraph (1847-1873) : Sold for use on Elbe at
Magdeburg - Scrapped 1882
Saxonia Dresden / Constitution / Saxonia (1851-1859) :
Built 1845 - Sold for use at Hamburg
Stadt Meissen (1852-1856) : Built 1838
Friedrich August (1855-1891)
Franz Josef (1855-1867)
Konig Johann (1856-1861)
Stadt Meissen (1857-1883)
Germania / Meissen (1857-1880)
Dresden (1857-1878)
Kronprinz (1858-1886)
Aussig (1858-1902) : sold for further use on Elbe at
Rosslau, then Magdeburg (1909) then abroad (1921)
Maria (1860-1899) : sold for use at
Schnackenburg, then Magdeburg (1903) then to Russia (1909)
Pirna (1861-1919) : sold for use at Magdeburg,
then Kovno, Lithuania (1921)
Saxonia (1862-1919) : sold for use at Magdeburg, then
Kovno, Lithuania (1921), then Memel, Germany (1941)
Konig Johann (1862-1891)
Riesa (1863-1919) : sold for use at Magdeburg, then
Kovno, Lithuania (1921) - scrapped 1923
Waldschlosschen (1863-1868) : sold for use at Magdeburg
- wrecked 1887
Bohemia (1863-1926)
John Penn / Herrnskretchen / Kurort Rathen / Freundschaft (1864-1964)
: scrapped in 1966
Schandau (1864-1892) : sold for use on the Elbe at
Rosslau, then to Russia (1901)
Raudnitz / Bastei (1865-1892)
Libussa (1870-1910) : sold for use at Braunschweig -
laid up 1958 - scrapped 1962. Oscillating engine preserved in Inlad Shipping Museum in Duisburg (DE)
Germania / Lossnitz / Einheit (1873-1974) : saw further
use as a restaurant - scrapped 1983
Blasewitz (1876-1887)
Loschwitz (1876-1887)
Dresden / Muhlberg / Stadt Wehlen (1879) STILL IN SERVICE
Kaiser Franz Josef (1880-1911) : sold for use at Prague
- laid up 1967 - scrapped 1981
Meissen (1881-1907) : Sold
for use on Weser at
Hameln as Kronprinz Wilhelm. Scrapped in 1968 in Bremerhaven. Part of
vessel and her oscillating engine (1857 ex-Meissen by J Penn) preserved
in
museum at Bremerhaven.
Pillnitz / Diesbar (1884) STILL IN SERVICE
Konig Albert / sachsen / Meissen (1885) STILL IN SERVICE
Konigin Carola / Diesbar / Pillnitz / Weltfrieden / Pillnitz
(1886) STILL IN SERVICE
Kaiser Wilhelm (1887-1919) : sold for use at Magdeburg -
scrapped 1941
Blasewitz (1888-1906) : sold for use at Hameln -
scrapped 1947
Loschwitz / Luzkec (1888-1906) : sold for use at
Hameln - wrecked in Poland in 1944
Konigstein (1889-1919) : sold for use at Magdeburg, then
Stettin (1920)
Stadt Wehlen (1890-1921) : sold for use at Prague
- laid up in 1935 - scrapped 1937
Furst Bismarck / Herrnskretschen (1891-1921) :
sold for use at Prague. Sailed under various names : Palacky, Stechovice, Goldenkron. Stalingrad, Sneznik - scrapped 1967
Graf Moltke / Lobositz / Konigin Maria / Lobositz / Konigstein
/Seeperle
(1892-1970) : hull used as a restaurant at Seeburg
Schandau / Bad Schandau (1892-1977) : scrapped
1979
Tetschen / Krippen (1892) STILL IN SERVICE
Leitmeritz (1893-1945) : remained in Czechoslovakia
after war, went to Russia - laid up 1958 - scrapped 1969
Austria (1893-1919) : sold for use at on the Elbe
at Lauenburg - to Kiel 1953 as storage hulk - scrapped 1969
Prinz Georg / Konig Georg / Salesel (1894-1945) :
remained in Czechoslovakia after war - laid up 1956 -
scrapped 1959
Wettin / Aussig (1894-1945) : remained in
Czechoslovakia after war - laid up 1966 - scrapped 1969
Prinz Friedrich August / Kronprinz (1895-1916) :
to the River Vistula in 1916 and Warsaw in 1918 - scrapped
1947
Prinzessin Luise / Kronprinzessin / Aussig (1895-1917) :
to the River Vistula in 1917 and Warsaw in 1919 - scrapped
1947
Bastei / Kurort Rathen (1896) STILL IN SERVICE
Bodenbach (1896-1945) : remained in Czechoslovakia after
war - laid up 1959 - scrapped 1980
Nixe (1896-1900) : sold for use at Warsaw -
wrecked in 1939
Hohenzollern / Meissen / Sachsen /
Schmilka (1897-1985) : scrapped 2002
Habsburg / Riesa (1897-1976) :
in use as a museum ship at Oderburg.
Konig Albert / Pirna (1898) STILL IN SERVICE
Karlsbad / Sachsen / Junger Pionier
(1898-1986) : scrapped 2002
Auguste Victoria / Loschwitz (1899-1946) :
transferred to the USSR
Kaiser Wilhelm II / Blasewitz (1900-1946) :
transferred to the USSR
Konig Friedrich August / Rathen / Kurort Rathen (1911-1946) :
transferred to the USSR
Kaiser Franz Josef / Saxonia / Laubegast / Krippen (1912-1946)
: transferred to the USSR
Generalfeldmarschall von Hindenburg / Konigstein (1915-1946) :
transferred to the USSR
Stadt Wehlen (1925-1946) : Hull built in 1916.
Further construction deferred until 1924. Transferred to the USSR and used on the Kama River at Perm as Kefal until 1956
Dresden (1926) STILL IN SERVICE
Leipzig (1929) STILL IN
SERVICE
Diesel-Electric
Paddlers
Four identical
Rosslau-built diesel-electric paddlers were introduced in 1963 and
1964 (Wilhelm Pieck), Three vessels were re-named in 1991 after the
fall of the Communist government, but Karl Marx, already laid up
awaiting refit, never sailed under its intended new name of Daniel
Poppelmann as cash for the planned work ws not available. JF Bottger
was withdrawn in 1992 Two large motor vessels took the names and
places in the fleet of Grafin Cosel and August der Starke for the
1994 season onwards. Poppelmann and JF Bottger were refurbished as
part of a skills development programme for unemployed people but put
into static use at Dresden-Neustadt dock as youth hostel
accommodation ships.
The photo above is of MPV Ernst Thalmann, taken at Terrassenufer,
Dresden in 1978 and shown by kind courtesy of Kevin Hoggett
Length: 69.91 m - Breadth : 7.8 m / 13.3 m overall
Diesels : 2 x 340 HP cylinder units by Schwermaschinenbau Karl
Liebknecht at Magdeburg
Electrical Drives : Twin motors by VEB Elbtalwerk at
Heidenau
Engines drove the paddle wheels independently
Karl Marx - Used as a hotel ship at Dresden-Neustadt
with the name "Koje"
J.F. Bottger (ex - Friedrich Engels) - Used
as a accommodation ship for the YMCA at Dresden-Neustadt
Grafin Cosel (ex - Wilhelm Pieck) -
Scrapped 1998
August der Starke (ex-Ernst Thalmann) -
Scrapped 1998
Company
Names
1836-1865 :
Elbdampfschiffahrts-Gesellschaft
1865-1923 : Sachsisch-Bohmische-Dampfschiffahrts-Gesellschaft
1923-1948 : Sachsisch-Bohmische Dampfschiffahrt AG
1948-1950 : Elbeschiffahrt-Dresden
1950-1956 : Gesellschaft Deutsche Schiffahrts- und
Umschlagsbetriebzentrale
1956-1990 : VEB Fahrgastschiffahrt Weisse Flotte Dresden
1990-1992 : Treuhandanstalt (pending sale to private interests of
former East German State assets)
1992-Date : Sachsische Dampfschiffahrts GmbH & Co, Conti
Elbschiffahrts KG
For a short time in the 1840s and 1850s there was
limited and short-lived competition for the Dresden passenger trade :
the Prague shipbuilder Ruston & Co with its steamers Germania and
Bohemia, and the Vereinigte Hamburger-Magdeburger Dampschiffahrts
Compagnie, which ran its PS Telegraph between Dresden and Meissen
from 1848-1851.
Shipbulding
Almost all vessels were built
and repaired at the company's own yards at Dresden - at Blasewitz
(1855-1896) and Laubegast (1896-date).The first and last vessels
built at each yard were Stadt Meissen / Karlsbad and Auguste Victoria
/ Leipzig respectively. The Laubegast yard is now owned by the
Deutsche Binnenwerften GmbH.
Re-use of
Machinery
In the early years, engines were
frequently saved from scrapped vessels and placed in the hulls of new
vessels:
Konigin Maria (1837) to Konigin Maria (1847)
Prinz Albert (1839) to Prinz Albert (1845)
Friedrich August (1846) to Friedrich August (1855)
Konigin Maria (1847) to Maria (1860)
Bohemia (1841) to Stadt Meissen (1857)
Germania (1845) to Germania (1857)
Friedrich August (1855) to Graf Moltke (1892)
Franz Josef (1855) to Kaiser Franz Josef (1880)
Konig Johann (1856) to Saxonia (1862)
Stadt Meissen (1857) to Pillnitz (1884)
Germania (1857) to Meissen (1881)
Dresden (1857) to Dresden (1879)
Kronprinz (1858) to Kaiser Wilhelm (1887)
Konig Johann (1862) to Schandau (1892)
Raudnitz (1865) to Prinz Georg (1894)
Preservation of Machinery
Bohemia (1863) -
Deutsches Museum, Munich
Libussa (1870) - Schiffahrtsmuseum,
Duisburg-Ruhrort
Kaiser Franz Josef (1880) - Lauenburg Museum (includes
paddle wheels)
Hohenzollern / Meissen / Sachsen / Schmilka
(1897) - retained after scrapping of hull in 2002
for possible re-use
Karlsbad / Sachsen / Junger
Pionier (1898) - - retained after scrapping of hull
in 2002 for possible re-use
Note: Steering equipment of Schandau (1892) in the
Verkehrsmuseum, Dresden
Paddle
Tugs on the Elbe
The River Elbe is a
significant freight artery, and was especially important in the early
years of the 20th century.
Wurttemberg
is preserved on the riverbank at Magdeburg
Internet
link to photo archive of paddle (and other) tugs operational in the German Democratic
Republic
Return to
River Elbe -
Dresden
Historical Database