FRANZ JOSEPH I 1887

[aukepalmhof]

The largest and most prominent of the six paddle steamboats built in Prague was the passenger (saloon) steamboat, the FRANZ JOSEPH I, built in 1887.
A new acquisition, the third large-scale ship of the Prague Steamboat Company (PPS), was inspired by a notable increase in the interest of passengers on the Prague–Zbraslav–Štěchovice line after 1880 (particularly in the extremely successful year of 1884).
In mid-1886, there was a competition which was entered by several shipbuilding companies: The First Bohemian-Moravian machine factory, the KETTE D.E.G. shipyard from Dresden and the Prague Joint Stock Engineering Company, the former “Rustonka”. The Prague company eventually won the competition and delivered a modern steamboat with a full capacity of 800 people for 55,000 guldens. The large capacity required of the paddle steamboat led the shipyard to come up with a new design. The steamboat, with regard to the turning basin of the Vltava river in Prague at that time, could not be too long, but at the same time it had to have a low draft (0.72 meters). It was therefore necessary to increase the displacement of the ship using a fairly full bow. However, that required more powerful machinery. Therefore, the steamboat got, for the first time in the history of the Vltava–Elbe passenger transportation, a horizontal steam engine with an output of 120 horsepower.
In addition to the richly furnished lounges with wallpaper and blinds, it also had a small upper deck accessible to passengers in the space between the paddle wheels. That was much earlier than with the ships of the Dresden steam navigation company, whose steamboat with the upper deck called the “Oberdeckdampfer” (Upper-deck steamboat) sailed up the river in 1896, a full nine years later. Interestingly, despite the use of the upper deck, the steamboat did not have a steering system on the bridge; its directional control, the same as with other Prague paddle steamboat, was a manual helm from the stern.
The newly built steamboat was initially deployed on the route from Prague to Zbraslav, which was then the most crowded line of PPS. Hundreds of people from Prague used the steamboats for trips to Chuchle (then far from Prague), Modřany and to the summer resort Zbraslav. For example, in 1889, the paddle steamboat performed 136 trips to Zbraslav, 86 to Štechovice and 65 to Davle. The steamboat was also used for sightseeing tours with prominent guests, such as the one on 10 June 1920, in which the first Czechoslovak president, T.G. Masaryk participated.
The steamboat sunk on 19 May 1898 in shallow water when alongside when a boiler exploded, killing three people, but she was salvaged and repaired. After 1918, it also changed its name to ZBRASLAV (in 1918), PRAHA (in 1929), PRAG (1942) and again to PRAHA (1945).
1967 Laid up.
1981 Scrapped.
Her length is given as 41 metre.
Czech Republic 2014 25 kc sg?, scott?
Czech Republic Post web-site. Internet.

[D. v. Nieuwenhuijzen]

Built in 1886-'87 at Schiffswerft Karolinenthal, Prague (Schiffs-und Maschinenbauanstalt Ruston &Co.) #101, for Pražská společnost pro paroplavbu na řece Vltavě (Prague steamship company on the Moldau)
Paddle steamer, L:44.14m. B:5.03m.. over the wheel arches:9,60m. D:2.20m. Draught empty:0.42m. loaded:0.72m. 2 cyl. steam engine from construction site:120 hp. Pass. Max:800.
(Internet)