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Side-Wheeled Paddle Steamers THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF PADDLE STEAMERS AND THEIR CURRENT AND FUTURE ROLE
Above
: Paddle steamers in their specialist role : taking people on
excursions. PS Lotschberg leaves the busy tourist resort of Interlaken
and heads towards the beautiful Lake Brienz The
first ships powered by mechanical means were Paddle
Steamers. Their commercial passenger use
can be traced back to 1807 when Robert Livingston and Robert
Fulton started a public
service on the Hudson River between New York City and Albany with the
"North River Steamboat", which later became popularly referred
to as "Clermont". The paddle steamer "Comet" which, in 1812,
introduced a service
between Glasgow and Helensburgh to bring customers quickly and reliably
to Henry Bell's hotel on the Clyde coast is acknowledged as the first
successful steamship service in Europe. There had been earlier
reasonably successful attempts to operate steamships, notably in the
USA, France and Scotland, but not
in a passenger context. Scottish engineer William Symington designed
the first practical tow boat, a sternwheeler, which trialled on the
Forth and Clyde Canal in 1801. Although not successful, an improved
version was and Charlotte Dundas took up operations in 1803.
From
the time of Robert Fulton onwards, any ships requiring the consistency
of mechanical propulsion rather than relying on the vagaries of the
winds and tides were paddle steamers. This held true at least
until the 1860s when the screw propellor gained the dominant role first
in ocean-going ships and later in increasing numbers of roles. The
advent of the steam turbine, which was unsuitable for adaptation
to side paddle propulsion, gave the screw steamer a further
advantage from 1901 onwards and soon afterwards, diesel combusion
engines began their long and quite slow road to dominance. Paddle
Steamers were gradually edged out of existence. The 1920s saw the last
of the great paddle steamers built for the Great lakes in the USA and
for the more modest roles of cross-lake and along-river connections in
continental Europe.
In
the UK operators persisted with new paddle steamers for their
various coastal and estuarine services.
There was a flurry of new-builds in the 1930s and, remarkably,
three major new steamers in the immediate post-war
period. These were built to traditional designs so as to be available
quickly to make up for losses as a result of World War II. One more
major passenger steamer was also built for a popular lake in 1953.
Apart from that, three car ferries for estuary crossings were built
but dispensing with steam power although one small steamer was built
for a river crossing in Pembrokeshire. The last flourishing of new
paddlers for use in the UK was in 1956 with the "Director" class diesel-electric-powered harbour tugs for
the Royal Navy.
In the late 1940s one Scottish yard in particular continued to
supply river paddle steamers to some of their traditional customers
in India, Pakistan and Burma. The Soviet Union persisted with paddle
steamers with a new standard design for vessels on overnight services on its mighty continental
rivers and these, some of which were built and used in Hungary, were delivered in substantial numbers throughout the 1950s. These final examples of paddle steamers illustrate
clearly that paddle steamers were most suitable for use in very shallow waters,
particularly those with shifting sandbanks, due to their comparatively
shallow draughts. This was the prime reason for the Waverley of
1947 and now the world's last sea-going paddle steamer being so built.
It
had been assumed that once
the remaining paddle steamers in the world had come to the end of their
useful and economic lives, they would be replaced by motor ships if, in
fact, there was any need for a vessel at all. With the expansion
of road networks and car ownership, the need for coastal and estuarine
passenger-only ferries virtually disappeared and for major crossings,
in the absence of a bridge, car ferries were required. Restricted
almost entirely to being excursion ships, they could survive only if
there was suitable demand for such services and in the volumes
necessary to sustain ships of their size. This did not eliminate the
threat of replacement with vessels of more
modern design and lower operating costs. Lake
Geneva in Switzerland, one place where large excursion ships still had
sufficient business, adopted the innovative solution of replacing
worn-out machinery with diesel-electric drives in a number of their
ships where the hulls themselves were not life-expired, but this
strategy was
not widely adopted elsewhere. Although it was too late for most
paddle steamers, the 1970s saw an increasing interest in the
preservation of interesting items of industrial and social heritage and
the establishment of numerous preservation societies. These societies'
objectives were to pursuade existing operators to retain and renovate
their paddle steamers or, in the worst case scenario, take ownership of
reundant vessels and attempt to operate them on their own
accounts. The former has been remarkably successful in Switzerland. The
latter has led to the survival of major paddle steamers such as
Waverley, Schonbrunn, Hohentwiel and Kaiser Wilhelm. Paddle Steamers can be
operated successfully - but only if they find a niche rolePaddle
Steamer Waverley
cruises up and down the Firth of Clyde. Here she is
seen heading homewards off Skelmorlie in 2013 in a photo kindly
supplied by Kenny Whyte. She now fulfils a purely excursion
cruise role. Ferry services were the main staple of her and similar
paddle steamers, but the link between Wemyss Bay on the mainland and
Rothesay on the Isle of Bute is now maintained by car ferries on a
shuttle service. The current holders of that roster are motor vessels
Argyle and Bute, seen above crossing the Firth with the Cowal coastline
behind and the higher hills of Argyll in the distance. The paddle
steamer can only survive where there is sufficient remaining custom
either a strong local market or very high tourist numbers - or both.
The high operating and maintenance costs have meant that support from
volunteers and financial donors has also become essential. Old paddlers are being renovated to "as new" but incorporating all modern safety standards and passenger conveniences 109 years old in 2011 and as good as new. With the
help of enthusiasts and under the control of a sympathetic shipping
company, PS Unterwalden (above), one of a fleet of five paddle
steamers on Lake Lucerne, returned to service in May 2011 after a major refit. She
was restored to closer to her original profile, but with a glass-enclosed
upper deck to meet modern expectations. Clever design, however,
means she looks much more like she once did, with the heavy construction
of the 1961 refit removed. This
photo of Unterwalden, back in service for the first time since 2009
was kindly supplied by Nadia JoehrThe world's Paddle Steamer fleet is growing2013
saw the return to working order of two paddle steamers which had been
out of service for many years and only recently had any hope of such a
renaissance. The provincial government at Como, Italy, sponsored the
restoration of PS Patria and a local enthusiasts' group in Switzerland,
with local government support, arranged the renovation of PS Neuchatel
(above). The Swiss paddler had been used as a restaurant ship for many
years and needed complete renovation plus the installation of an engine
and boiler. Photo by kind courtesy of Sebastien Jacobi (via Olivier
Bachmann) There are still chances for it to grow further Maid
of the Loch
(above) looks like she is ready to cast off from Balloch Pier on Loch
Lomond.
Unfortunately she has been out of service since 1981, but much work in
recent years has meant she has been open to the public for static use.
Hopes that a major grant from the UK's Heritage Lottery Fund would
allow her to be returned to service in 2019 were dashed when it was
announced that the project had failed to get the required funding at
the September 2018 round of allocations. It is anticipated that a
bid for the funding will be re-submitted for future assessment. In
the meantime, her enthusiast owners continue to raise funds and work on
her restoration and renovation. Work has been progressing well,
supported by a major grant from the Scottish Governement and donations
from several trust funds. The engines are now able to turn with steam
generated by a boiler on the pier. Having a "paddle steamer" is
good for your marketing MPV
Herrsching on the Ammersee lake in Bavaria, southern Germany (seen
above) is one of a new generation of ships with a genuine set of paddle
wheels. It was a surprise that the ship was built as a paddler. It
would have been even more of a surprise if she had been a paddle
steamer - an option which did receive genuine consideration, but was
ultimately ruled out on cost grounds. Nevertheless, the operating
company saw advantages in having a modern yet "traditional" vessel on
its timetabled services and later rebuilt its traditional (but
motorised) paddler Diessen in similar style. Modern vessels with mock
paddle wheels (especially "Mississippi-style" stern wheels) but powered by diesels and primarily driven by screws have proved popular for tourist trips, especially in the USA. COST REDUCTION AND CLEAN ENERGY : An innovative solution for the retention and reactivation of vessels at risk Paddle Steamers are very expensive to
run and this is probably the main reason why they are now so rare.
Making steam also involves burning fossil fuels and despite improving
boiler performance and lighter fuels, emissions cannot be completely
eliminated. There is a way to reduce operating costs by around 40 % and reduce their carbon footprint Click here for more detailsReturn to HomepageGordon Stewart 2001-2022