World of Ships – May 2018

PADDLE STEAMERS

Paddle Steamers I World of Ships I 77

LAKE

LUCERNE

The first steamboat appeared on

Vierwaldstattersee, the lake of Switzerland’s

four forest cantons, in 1837, but did not

receive a particularly warm welcome, some

local residents throwing stones when the

newly-built Stadt Luzern made a first arrival

from Lucerne in Fluelen. Fortunately,

the natives soon accepted the new means

of transport and there were a number of

competitors for traffic, until a single unified

company, Schiffahrtsgesellschaft des

Vierwaldstattesees (SGV), was formed in 1870,

continuing today with a fleet of modern motor

vessels and five paddle steamers, four of which

have over a century service to their names.

At one stage SGV had plans, later

abandoned, to build a new motor ship every

two years to replace all the steamers by

1980. Six side-wheelers remained when SGV
      celebrated its centenary in 1970, but there was
      an outcry from enthusiasts when withdrawal
      of the 1908-built Wilhelm Tell was announced
      at the end of that season.
      The formation of the ‘Steamer Friends’
      organisation failed to save Wilhelm Tell, which
      survives in Lucerne as a floating restaurant,
      but it has since become a major influence in
      retention of Uri (1901), Unterwalden (1902),
      Schiller (1906), Gallia (1913) and Stadt Luzern
      (1928), which figure on the Lucerne-Fluelen
      service as well as shorter circuits, while
      Unterwalden is also able to pass beneath
      the Archeregg Bridge at Stansstad to reach
      Alpnachsted, starting point of the Pilatus
      Mountain Railway.

URI

BUILT 1901 by Sulzer Brothers, Winterthur.

DIMENSIONS Length 61.8m, width 6.8m (hull), 14.0mm

(over paddles)

MACHINERY Compound diagonal by builders, 650hp

SPEED 27.5kmh (15.2 knots)

PASSENGERS 800

Uri, introduced in 1901 after being built and

engined by Winterthur-based Sulzer Brothers,

became the first Lake Lucerne steamer to

receive major attention amounting to a near

rebuild. Between October 1991 and February

1994 extensive work took place in SGV’s

covered dry dock in Lucerne. Almost half of

the SwFr5.5 million total cost was raised by

the Steamer Friends organisation.

The most noticeable feature was the creation

of a new upper deck restaurant following

the removal of the heavy fixed canopy fitted,

ABOVE Completed in 1901 by Sulzer Brothers of Winterthur, Uri is now the oldest vessel in the Lake

Lucerne fleet. (Russell Plummer)

ABOVE Steamer Parade duty for Uri with flowers at the bow and flags flying. (Russell Plummer)

ABOVE Withdrawal of the 1908-built Wilhelm Tell,

at Lucerne in a static restaurant role since 1970,

sparked efforts to ensure that the remaining five

SGV steamers have all survived into the 21st century.

(Russell Plummer)

RIGHT Uri’s gilded bow scrollwork includes the

emblem of the Swiss Canton of Uri. (R. Plummer)

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