World of Ships – May 2018

Skibladner’s ornate gilded stern

decoration catches the eye as the

steamer sails away from Hamar.

PADDLE STEAMERS

Paddle Steamers I World of Ships I 69

success. But with growing concerns over

speed, achieved with the original twin-cylinder

diagonal engine, a new three-cylinder unit

was ordered from the Akers Yard and installed

during a major rebuild in 1888, when two new

boilers were also brought in.

The hull was also cut forward of the paddles

so that a new 20ft section could be inserted,

and when work was completed, speed

increased by two knots to 14 knots. Skibladner

continued unaltered until oil-fi ring replaced

coal in 1921, although, as fuel prices soon

soared, her owners were probably left wishing

their predecessors had not been quite so eager

to move with the times.

The steamer regularly wintered at

Minnesund, but and twice – in 1937 and 1967

• sank under the weight of ice and snow on
  her decks, the most recent sinking in February
  1967 seeing her fi nish up lying in 14m of
  water. With the operating company almost
  bankrupt, it looked like the end, but what could
  have been a disaster became a watershed, with
  money fl owing in to back a national campaign.
  With help from the Norwegian Army, the
  vessel was raised and patched up before going
  under her own steam to Gjovik for restoration.
  New blood also came into the Oplandske
  Company’s management, and a friends

organisation, ‘Skibladners Venner’, was

formed and still plays a vital role. Skibladner’s

125th anniversary was celebrated in 1981 with

carryings of around 20,000 passengers.

Thanks to improved publicity, carryings

grew to 30,000 in 1993, when, after being

based at Eidsvoll for most of her working

life, Skibladner moved to Gjovik, with the

introduction of the now familiar sailing

pattern of a southern circuit from Gjovik to

Hamar and Eidsvoll on Monday, Wednesday

and Friday and a northern course to Hamar

and Lillehammer on Tuesday, Thursday and

Saturday, leaving the vessel available for

charters or special sailings on Sundays.

Signifi cant work was undertaken between

1992 and 1995 to restore Skibladner to near-

1888 condition, with restaurant restoration

the in the winter of 1992-93 drawing many

favourable comments.

It was reappointed in varnished mahogany

with brass fi ttings.

Hull examination revealed a need to replace

30 plates, and the work, completed in 1993,

accounted for the equivalent of £500,000, or

almost one third of restoration funds. Progress

continued after the turn of the century,

and in 2005 Skibladner was adopted by the

Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage.

SKIBLADNER

OWNER A/S Oplandske Dampskibsesselkab

BUILT 1854-1856 by Motala Verkstad, Sweden; rebuilt 1888

by Akers Mek Verkstad, Norway

DIMENSIONS 165ft x 16ft 7in (hull)

MACHINERY Double diagonal engine, replaced in 1888 by

triple diagonal of 606hp

SPEED 14 knots

PASSENGERS 230

Skibladner was ordered in 1852 but was not

delivered until 1856 because the Motala yard

gave preference to orders for Swedish naval

vessels. She was sent in sections by rail to

Eidsvoll and moved onward by horse and cart

for assembly at Minnesund, with a maiden

voyage on 2 August 1856 and sailings taking

place up to nine months a year while the lake

remained free of ice. The contract for the green-

hulled twin-funnelled Skibladner stipulated a

vessel drawing no more than 4ft and capable

of traversing the lake in under 16 hours.

There was also a stipulation that nothing on

board should be made of wood that could not

be provided in iron or other metals. Originally

carrying up to 150 passengers in two classes

and offering a restaurant, library and even

sleeping berths, Skibladner was an immediate

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