PADDLE STEAMERS
Paddle Steamers I World of Ships I 29
Rindbach in October 1982.
The vessel’s Friends’ Society launched a
campaign to save the ship before becoming
owners, but substantial sections of the hull
had to be replaced, while the engine was
removed and sent to Linz to be completely
stripped down. Much of the historic wooden
superstructure also needed renewal, with the
task undertaken by pupils from local high
schools. The paddle wheels, each with 12
wooden floats, were also rebuilt and, after three
years high and dry, Gisela was refloated in
November 1984, before a severe winter dashed
hopes of sailings in 1985.
She did make it to a flower festival in
Gmunden after being moved the length of the
lake lashed to a motor vessel. Gisela finally
made a triumphant return to Gmunden under
steam in 1986, when members of the Rushton
family were present. A new foremast improved
the vessel’s appearance, and telegraphs
manufactured in Glasgow a century and half
earlier for elder sister Elisabeth (1858), which
served until 1967, were installed.After former hybrid DDSG paddle vessel Johann
Strauss spent almost three decades located on
the Danube Canal close to the Salztor Bridge
in Vienna, operating first as a Waltz Café and
then a bar and discotheque, the future for the
vessel looked bleak. She was created at Linz in
1950, when the iron hull of the 1853-built Carl
Ludwig, renamed Grein in 1938, was fitted with
a two-cylinder Sachsenberg Brothers compound
diagonal engine. Much of the superstructure from
the 1913-built Erzherzog Franz Ferdinand, which
was later became Johann Strauss and had been
withdrawn in the late 1940s, was also added.
After World War II ended Johann Strauss
was the first Austrian Danube vessel to resume
sailings, when the Russian and American
occupying forces gave permission for trips
between Linz and Passau in 1950. Withdrawn
by DDSG in 1972 following a fracture of her
main paddle shaft, she lay at Wallsee, below
Mauthausen, until towed to Regensburg,
Germany, and opened as a floating restaurant in
1975 following the removal of the engines and
boiler. A move to Vienna in the early 1980s sawthe smart vessel become a tourist attraction, with
popular waltz demonstrations to Strauss music.
Later use as a nightclub ended in 2013, with
the vessel, still in its prime Vienna location,
quickly deteriorating and becoming a victim
of graffiti artists. During 2016 there were press
reports talking of a €700,000 refit to turn her
into a traditional Viennese Coffee House aimed
at tourists. Most of 2017 passed without any
sign of work, until the vessel was towed away
during December for what was described as
‘cosmetic restoration’.MUSIC ENDS FOR VIENNA WALTZ VETERAN
ABOVE The 1871-buit Giesla near Altmunster with new foremast following the major refit of 1986.ABOVE Giesla approaches Gmunden to load
passengers for a Traunsee charter cruise in 2003.02 Paddlers_Austria_NL.indd 29 17/04/2018 12:00