World of Ships – May 2018

PADDLE STEAMERS

Paddle Steamers I World of Ships I 91

fleet as Konigstein. After she spent 1971 in

reserve, her engine and boiler were removed

and the hull was cut in two and taken by road

to Sussen Lake, near Eisleben, to serve as a

restaurant.

HANSA

Various plans for the 1886 Dutch-built

vessel, powered by a two-cylinder compound

engine by Escher Wyss of Switzerland, have

come up since 1998, including one using the

compound diagonal engine of German Rhine

steamer Cecilie, dating from 1910, which was

withdrawn in 1975 but not scrapped until

1984. None of them progressed, leaving
      the vessel’s hull, without upper deck areas
      or machinery, beached at Mulheim, near
      Cologne. Hansa sailed on the Rhine until sold
      in 1924 to become a house boat moored near
      the Mulheimer Ship Bridge and then moved
      to Dusseldorf in 1940, and went through a
      number of private owners.

ABOVE Rigi on land in Lucerne as originally

preserved and now used as a cafe.

ABOVE Also preserved is Rigi’s original oscillating

engine, built by John Penn and Son.

ABOVE Former Lake Neuchatel steamer Fribourg has been used as a restaurant at Portalban since she was

withdrawn in 1965. (Olivier Bachman)

ABOVE Elbe service as Konigstein ended after the paddler spent 1971 in reserve. She had her engine and

boiler removed before being cut in two and taken overland for use as a restaurant near Eisleben, Germany.

ABOVE The remains of Dutch-built vessel Hansa, abandoned near Mulheim in Germany. (Olivier Bachman)

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