26 I World of Ships I Paddle Steamers
CHAPTER TWO
AUSTRIA
B
ritish know-how played
a significant part in the
development of paddle
steamer services along
the Austrian stretch of
the Danube after Joseph
Pritchard and John
Andrews ventured into Europe in 1829 to
exploit their early 19th century engineering
experience. Andrews turned to former
business partners Boulton and Watt of Soho,
Birmingham to build, engine and fit out vessel
Franz I, which was assembled on a makeshift
slipway at Florisdof on the river’s north bank
near Vienna. Although under-powered, the
vessel proved her worth with a return trip
to Budapest, which led to operating rights
being claimed in the name of Erste Donau
Dampschiffahrt Gesellschaft (DDSG).
By the late 1880s the company was
operating over 180 steamers, 750 barges
and 100 auxiliary craft, and, although
never highly profitable, DDSG’s Danube
dominance running from Passau through the
vast territory of the then Austro-Hungarian
Empire was such that it became almost a law
unto itself and at one time even issued its own
postage stamps, bank notes and coins.
From quite early days DDSG operated the
length of the Danube and acquired seagoing
tonnage to move cargo via the Black Sea tothe Mediterranean. They also established an
extensive shipyard at Obuda, near Budapest,
although at first engines tended to be brought
in from specialists like Britain’s Boulton and
Watt, Greenwich-based John Penn, Scotland’s
G. J. Rennie and Escher Wyss of Switzerland.
The Great War saw half the fleet lost through
action or seizure and afterwards trade patterns
changed dramatically, with Danube freight
facing increasing competition from the railways.
Passenger traffic did recover, and between
1916 and 1922 DDSG built four impressive
cabin paddle steamers for service from Austria
as far downstream as Giurgiu in Romania.
World War II was even more difficult for
DDSG, with two thirds of the fleet lost. Worse
was to follow, with the Soviets arguing in
1945 that DDSG was German property and
claiming its fleet and lands in war reparations.
The Soviet Union set up an administration
alongside the Austrians, and not until 1955 were
their claims relinquished, with sailings from
Vienna to Linz and Passau resuming using the
steamer Schönbrunn and the diesel-electric
paddle pair Stadt Wien and Stadt Passau.
The return trip took three days, with an
overnight stop in Linz on the upstream leg,
and the return run from Passau accomplished
in 13 hours. However, construction of a
succession of hydro-electric schemes resulted
in additional new locks, which slowed the flowof the river, and a night stop was also made at
Linz en route to Vienna. The through-service
was stopped in 1983 but resumed using Stadt
Wien and Stadt Passau, together with Theodor
Korner, a Voith-Schneider-powered cabin
vessel originally designed for long-distance
cruises. Despite company re-organisation into
separate passenger and freight operations in
1991, the long-distance passenger services
came to an end just four years later.
After establishing DDSG, John Andrews
turned his attention to the Austrian
Salzkammergut Region, and in 1837, together
with Joseph Rushton, an engineer who had
worked for Boulton and Watt, obtained the
rights to build and operate ships on Traunsee.
Boulton and Watt provided a side-lever engine
for the first Traunsee steamer, named Sophie
in honour of the mother of Emperor Franz
Josef. Now, almost a century and a half later,
Gisela, the last steamer built for the lake, is
still operating under her original name, with
an oscillating engine dating from 1871.
Attersee, another Salzkammergut lake, had
the region’s first steam-powered services after
the introduction of the paddle vessel Unterach
in 1870, and in 1954 she was fitted with a
similar diesel engine to that of Wolfgangsee
vessel Kaiser Franz Josef 1. She continued in
operation until failing a hull survey in 1978,
her break-up taking place the following year.Schönbrunn at Linz, early in her career as a
preserved vessel, during the summer of 2003.ABOVE Schönbrunn with flags flying during a visit
to Budapest in 1975 while she was still in DDSG
ownership. She then returned to the Hungarian
capital to serve as a static casino and restaurant ship
from 1990 until early 1994.02 Paddlers_Austria_NL.indd 26 17/04/2018 12:00