#side wheeler

[capewolfe]

Paddle Steamer Waverley.

[lazyjacks]

Sylvester, 1886-09-07 Nathaniel L. Stebbins photographic collection Historic New England Reference Code PC047.02.0430.01149 [Sylvester was one of the ships with spectators for the first race in the 1886 America’s Cup. Good thing it was a calm day.]

[justabearandhisboats]

Freya my beloved

[justannoyingbear]

Paddle steamer Freya (ex - De Nederlander, ex - De Zwaan, ex- Westerschelde)

Launched: 21 April 1905

Builder: J & K Smit, Kinderdijk

Length : 51.6 m

Beam: 11.4 m

Draught: 2,2 m

Speed: 8,5 knots

Passenger Capacity : 250

Engines : Compound horizontal (140 HP built 1926 and fitted second hand in 1989-90 and auxiliary 400 HP diesel/screw engine fitted at rear)

Originally fitted with a triple diagonal engine developing 600 HP.

Built in 1905 in the yard of J & K Smit, Kinderdijk, Netherlands as passenger boat "Westerschelde" and used as a ferry to the Provincial Steamer Services of the Province of Zeeland.

During WW I, the ship brought refugees from the occupied Belgium to safer places in the neutral Netherlands.

Used on occasion as a "royal yacht" by Queen Wilhelmina.

In 1933 the ship was sold to be scrapped at the ship-breaking yard F. de Klerk in Terneuzen and seemed destined for demolition, but two years later the paddle steamer was sold again.

The new owner was P. J. Zwaans, oil trader in Oosterhout. The ship was thoroughly renovated and served as oil bunkering vessel. The ship also was renamed "De Zwaan" (The swan).

During WW2, the steamer De Zwaan served as a hiding place for many who were searched or prosecuted by German occupation forces. Kees Zwaans and his wife Lieske were active in the resistance movement, from the beginning of the war they helped refugees, persecuted Jews, shot down British pilots or Dutch people who did not want to work for the Germans into hiding.

After the war the ship fell into decline and it came in the hands of various owners.

Bought in 1988 by Klemens Key, whose father Wijnand Key had earlier bought Reederij op de Lek 6 for restoration.

Restoration started in 1989 at Zaandam, with a second-hand compound steam engine from a dredger dating from 1926 and boiler dating from 1967.

In 1990 the ship was converted back to paddle steamer and served as "De Nederlander" as a restaurant ship for the Nederlands Raderstoomboot Maatschappij, for charters around the Rotterdam Docks and to Hook of Holland.

Sold in December 1999 to the Insel- und Halligreederei Company (Adler-Schiffe) a List-based ferry operator owned by Sven Paulsen.

In March 2000, the ship was completely restored and given its present name on 20 April 'Freya'.

From November 2000 Freya has been based at Kiel and operates services on the Kiel canal and the Kieler Foerde, but also occasionally out of Hamburg, Flensburg and Rostock.

[doormousewhispers]

[historicwharf]

Beached sidewheel steamboat. From the Washington State Archives. 

[source]

[fishstickmonkey]

Crossing the Detroit River in winter Detroit Publishing Company

[adventures-of-the-blackgang]

Hudson River excursion steamer Robert Fulton with crew and passengers, signed “Albert Sr. Nemethy”. Appears to be passing Stuyvesant Landing.