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Side-Wheeled Paddle Steamers
Kossuth (ex- Ferencz Ferdinand Foherczeg, Rigo and Leanyfalu)
Kossuth in July 2012. Photo by kind courtesy of
Olivier Bachmann
Built
by Ganz-Danubius at Budapest in 1913
Machinery : Compound Diagonal
Length : 62.4
metres
Originally named Ferencz Ferdinand Foherczeg
Renamed Rigo
(1919), then Leanyfalu (1930)
In Austria from 1944 to 1946
Heavily rebuilt after World War II and returned to service in 1953
named Kossuth
Reboilered in 1965 with second hand boiler from the sunken German
paddle tug Regensburg
Withdrawn after the 1978 season
Koored at Ujpest and used as the house boat
and refectory for employees of MAHART
In 1984 she became a floating sanatorium, but in 1986 she was converted to a
museum ship
Eventually moored at the Chain Bridge (Szechenyi lanchid) in central Budapest as a restaurant with a small
maritime museum owned by the Budapest Transport Museum
In 1995, due to lack
of finances, the Museum subcontracted the ship's operation and maintenance to
the private company, Kossuth Múzeumhajó Kft
(Kossuth Museum Ship Ltd)
The 5-year contract required the company
to pay a monthly fee to the museum and to renovate the vessel before a 10-year
extension to the operation contract was granted.
The hull was renovated
in 2000 by SKL at Komarno.
Later water ingress led to contractual argument
between the various parties as to the exact scale of work undertaken
during the renovation contract which is yet to be resolved.
Now marketed as the Venhajo Restaurant, run by EURÓPA Rendezvényiroda Kft.
who also operate modern vessels on Danube cruises.
The company are also
partners in the ZOLTAN FOUNDATION, which owns the Nezmely Ship Museum, which
provides technical management for the museum on Kossuth.
Entry
to the small museum display on the engine room companionway is free. The ship
is also a public restaurant with rooms available for private hire.
Taken
to Komarno docks for major reburbishment work in the summer of 2008
Above : Kossuth moored on the Danube in
central Budapest in 2004 : Photo by Martin
Roberts
Above : In 2008, Kossuth was temporarily removed from her Budapest berth
for attention to her hull. She is seen here in a photo by Zsolt
Szabo under tow by the museum tug Sopron.
Above : Photos of Kossuth in 2009 by kind courtesy of Zsolt Szabo
Above : Kossuth, seen on the evening of August 14th 2010 in a photo by kind courtesy of Phil Barnes. Click here for more from this collection
paddlesteamers.info : KOSSUTH PHOTOGRAPH COLLECTION
2006 by Gordon Stewart
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