World of Ships – May 2018

PADDLE STEAMERS

Paddle Steamers I World of Ships I 63

CONCORDIA

BUILT and engined: 1926-27 by N. Odero fu Alessi, Sestri

Ponente, Genoa

MACHINERY Triple diagonal, 600hp, reboilered 1977

SPEED 25 kmh

DIMENSIONS Length 53.66m, width 6.40m (hull), 11.60m

(over paddles)

PASSENGERS 900

The date of Mussolini’s march on Rome

in 1922 was commemorated when NLC

introduced a second new steamer named

XXXVIII Ottobre in 1927, which became

Concordia in 1943 and retained the original

tall funnel when fitted with a new oil-burning

boiler in 1977. Like Patria, Concordia is

powered by an impressive triple diagonal

steam engine, although they are unusual

in having valve gear of a type designed by

Caprotti more usually used in railway engines.

Concordia was out of service from 1973 until

emerging from an extensive refit to start the

1977 season, with new restaurant facilities

created in the aft saloon and a new saloon

built on the after deck above, the latter being

fitted with red leather settees to match those

in the existing area below. There were boiler

problems, which resulted in another spell out

of service from 2012, with further general

renovation until a return to service in August

2015 and full seasons in 2016 and 2017.

Even now Concordia’s use is limited by high

manning costs, with the vessel needing seven

men exclusive of catering staff, compared to

the four-man crews on Como motor vessels.

LAKE GARDA

G. ZANARDELLI

BUILT 1903 by Escher Wys, Zurich, re-assembled at

Peschiera

ENGINE Compound Diagonal by builders, 440hp, new

boiler 1974. Diesel-hydraulic drive installed in 1982 and

subsequently re-engined in 2002

DIMENSIONS Length 48.65m

PASSENGERS Originally 800, but now certified for 500 (of

which 250 seated including 150 under cover)

CREW 7

Originally named Giuseppe Zanardelli after

a Brescia-born former Italian president, the

Escher Wyss-built vessel entered service in

1903, with the Christian name later amended

to just a capital letter. A compound diagonal

engine of 450hp by the builders gave a service

speed of 25kmh. After use as a troop and

supplies carrier in World War I, the steamer’s

career was fairly uneventful until the final

days of World War II, when there was damage

by machine gun fire during an aerial attack

close to Limone, with crew members and

passengers killed and many more injured.

Returned to service under American control

ABOVE Two twin-furnace oil fired boilers, installed

during a refit completed in 1977, provide steam for

Concordia’s 600hp engine.

ABOVE Concordia’s well-polished triple diagonal

engine was constructed by the vessel’s Genoa-

based builders N.Odero fu Alessi.

from the private Cariplo Foundation. Patria

undertook her first trial run under her own

steam on 8 May 2013 and obtained approval

of the certification body RINA.

Patria originally entered service in 1926 as

Savoia and was renamed in 1943 at the height

of World War II, when the lake was just about

the region’s only means of transport. The

vessel sustained damage and five passengers

lost their lives in an Allied air attack. Patria

was converted to oil fuel in 1953, when the

original tall funnel was replaced by a shorter

stack painted white with red bands, in contrast

to Concordia’s black stack with white bands.

ABOVE Steamer Patria lying out of service at

Dervio, with all deck seating and fittings removed

for storage.

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