These
ships are at severe risk. In recent years several paddle steamers have
not survived, although these have generally been derelict ships for
which the cost of restoration would have made any project impractical.
Information is not up to date so some of the ships will have been
scrapped or have deteriorated beyond any reasonable hope of recovery
RESTORATION AND RETURN TO SERVICE PLANNED Patria(1926) Como, Italy Owners : Provincia di Como Patria
was restored in 2009-13 after a long lay up but returned to lay-up in
2014 pending a decision about her future. As of 2024 she is back at the
Dervio shipyard for further work to be done on her Helvetie (1926) Lausanne, Switzerland
ex- Diesel-electric, ex- steam paddler HELVETIE (Lake Geneva,
Switzerland) is out of service but maintained by the local shipping
operator pending future restoration and reentry into service retained in rRESTORATION PLANNED : STATUS UNKNOWN Krasnoyarsk Yakutsk, Russia
Built
in 1959. Withdrawn from cruising on the River Lena in 2007 but was
understood to be undergoing restoration with a planned reintroduction in
2014. This appears not to have happened
K.M. Stanyukovich Russia
737-series
steamer built in Hungary in 1957 is under refurbishment at Gorodets,
near Nizhny Novgorod on the River Volga, by a private owner. A new
boiler has been supplied by Master-Watt who adapted a boiler from Czech
manufacturer TN for Russian conditions and the engine now works under
steam. Photographs taken in
2016 show the ship outwardly at least looking to be in good condition
at the Gorodetsky yard
Paddle Tug Bystryi
was built in 1955 in Kiev at the Lenin Shipyard and was the last of her
type on the Volga when it was mooted in 1996 to preserve her for the
Polytechnic museum. This never happened and she was laid up at
Volgoreschensk. However she was bought by a company based in Yaroslavl
in 2006 for refurbishment for tourist purposes as a passenger
steamer in Yaroslavl. Renovation began at Hlebnikovo, in the northern
suburbs of Moscow.
Current status : unknown
VESSELS AT RISK
SMS Krystyna
Zegrze Reservoir, near Warsaw, Poland
Built
in 1903 for service on the Vistula River in the Krakow region
(then part of the Galician province of the Austro-Hungarian Empire).
The paddler was one of the local fleet requisitioned for war use in
1914 as part of the Vistula Flotilla. After the end of the First World
War when the vessel dought against the Russians, it was taken over by
the newly-created Polish State. Those surviving vessels endured the
Second World War and returned agin to civilian service. SMS Krystyna
continued until 1964 and is now the only survivor of the Vistula
Flotilla. The ship found further use by the Warsaw Sailing Association
as a marina clubhouse on the Zegrze Reservoir. This use came to an end
and the ship was under severe threat until the beginning of the 20th
century when a sailing training company purchased her and made a number
of renovations. She is in an unrecognisable form from her operational
days with her machinery and sponsons removed. Petofi
Neszmely,
Hungary
The former MAHART passenger vessel lies
on the Danube near Budapest, in a poor
condition following a fire. Her machinery has already been
removed. MAHART had originally planned to return her to service, but
funds were not available. She survives, in very poor condition, on the
Danube at the Neszmely Ship Museum on the Danube. She is in good
hands, however, as part of the Zoltan Foundation collection (named
after a paddle tug in the museum collection). Finance
for her restoration is not available at the moment.
Former Danube cargo
and passenger boat built in 1898, withdrawn in 1992 and then used
as a restaurant in Belgrade as "Split",the name she assumed
after World War II. Now out of the water and deteriorating
at Kladovo shipyard
Until recently, earmarked for restoration in Switzerland
, to recreate the vessel "Wengi" of 1856 which sailed on the
River Aare. Now slipped on the Danube in Romania, her hull
was found to be in good condition. The project has now been abandoned. NOTES ON THE SOVIET PROJECT 737
CABIN PADDLE STEAMERS (as at 2015)
A number of the 65 long-distance river
cruise ships of the Soviet 737 project built between 1951 and 1960
in the USSR and Hungary are believed to be in existence, many beached and in very
poor condition. However, Krasnoyarsk is still in operation
and the motor conversion Bogdan Khmelnitskiy
has been returned to operational service in the Ukraine. K.M. Stanyukovich
is under restoration in Russia.
Blagoveschensk Kiryensk,
Russia
Has been out of service since 2005 but there are reports that she is now under reconstruction for service
Aleksandr Polezhaev
Samara, Russia
Sergey Alymov
Near
Saratov, Russia
Appears to be on dry land near Volsk with paddle wheels
missing. One source suggests she got to that position around 50
metres from the riverbank during flood conditions on the river.
Former
London County Council waterbus service paddle steamer, built in 1905
which found its way to Poland via germany, was finally used as a
clubhouse survives as a hulk on land in a lagoon at Poland's north
coast at Lazy
Dating from 1886 and in service until
1924, Hansa is the oldest Rhein paddler still afloat. She was photographed at Cologne - stripped
of superstructure. Plans to move her to the Netherlands
and install the engines of former Rhein paddler Cecilie have come
to nothing so far. Krajina
Serbia
Former Yugoslav royal and presidential "yacht" on
the Danube, badly damaged by fire in January 2007 Length : 50
m. Built in 1927 at Ubigau (Dresden, Germany) and taken in pieces
to the Danube and reassembled at Regensburg. Originally called "Dragor",
she became "Gernot" in 1941, and in the aftermath of World
War II became known as "California" when commandeered
by US forces. Yugoslav President Tito was known to have used the
yacht but her main role became as an inspection ship for the Yugoslav
Inland Waterways authority. It is believed that her engines were
removed some time after the fire HISTORICAL SHIP (FORMER PADDLE STEAMER) FOR POSSIBLE RESTORATION IN FINLAND
Lahtis Finland
33.7 metres long x 4.9 metres breadth Built
in 1865 by Crichton & Co in Turku and assembled at Lahti as a paddle steamer and used on
Lake Paijanni in Finland. In 1904 she was converted to screw propulsion
and given new steam engines and new superstructure and renamed "Lahti"
In
the 1920s she was used as a “tar” transporting steamer and
later as a barge after removal of her engine, being renamed "Iloniemi
6"
She
changed hands several times and was in sunken condition in 1974 when
bought by a private preservationist, a Mr Hoyla, who was a car
mechanic by trade. A steam engine was fitted in 1975. Side paddle
wheels were also fitted in 1978. Sold for a failed museum enterprise in
1984 she was then bought by Captain Hannu Hilden in 1989. She was taken
to dry-dock in Jyvaskyla before being sold once again to a preservation
society in 2003. The
ship was
located at the Noukanniemi Restaurant at Vaajakoski until transported
overland in May 2014 in two parts to the Noukanniemesta Arts centre.
She is
now owned by the charitable Kauko Sorjonen Foundation, which hopes to
restore her and bring her back into operational service, with the
support of the Lahtis Paddle Steamer Society which is raising funds for
the restoration
Above : The original Lahtis in the 1890s : Photo original held by the Museum of Central Finland
