German explorating Paddlesteamer "Welf", steam driven

[Hankwilliams]

Hello, dear friends and neigbors,


now I would like to show you some other pictires of my last model.
It is the steamer of the German Africa Explorer Count Claus von der Decken (1832 - 1865).
His last expedition in 1865 led to East Africa, it´s end was tragic even the journey was very well preparedwas. The Reiherstieg shipyard in Hamburg constructet the 37 Meter paddlesteamer "Welf" and a small screw steamboat for Decken`s expedition to today`s Somalia.

The parts of the boats (metal work) were shipped to Sansibar and then assembled. In June 1865 von der Decken startet with his compagnons travelling north along the East African coast. The small screw steamer got lost at the mouth of river Juba.

But with the paddlesteamer "Welf" it was possible (with many obsticles and difficulties) to make a journey on the river at a distance of 760 km until the city of Baardeere. About 20 km north of the city the boat ran aground and couldn`t be repaired.
Short time later von der Decken aund some of his compagnons were murdered by somalian tribes.

The surviving participants in a adventuring trip were able to escape and drive in a rowboat down the whole river. Later they arrived Sansibar and in 1866 the came back to Hamburg.
It is not known, what became of the wreck of the "Welf".
I tried to found the place of the attac by google earth, but even the region north of the city of Baardeere is so blurred, that you can`t see any details.

The model`s scale is 1 : 30, I drew the plans from a drawing of the boat in the book of the expedition.

The dimensions are: Lenght 1270 mm, breath of hull 160 mm, the deplacement is 4,7 kg.

The boiler is a flame tube type, the engine is the Regner "Primax". The boat shows a nice appearance as you can see, but she is not very stabil, I can drive her only in good wheather when there is no stronger wind.

Greeetings

Thomas

[claudiu_ne2000]

very very nice work...i like the details of the work...i would like to see some old pictures of the ship...if there is one...


once again NICE JOB

[Eddy Matthews]

A lovely model Thomas...

Does the name "Welf" mean anything in German?

[Walter Snowdon]

Hi Thomas, thank you for an unusual story and a most interesting model.Could you give some details of the models construction and possibly some close-up pictures of "the engine room" and the paddle costruction. I like the last photo in particular. With that dark murky water it could be the real thing in some african river estuary. Thanks again, Walter Snowdon.

[Hankwilliams]

Hello,

it's nice, to receive so much interest of my boat.

There are two historic wood engravings made after drawings of artist Eduard Trenn, who was a member of the expedition.
he also was murdered by the attac of somalian tribes.  Further in the book "Die Reisen des Carl Claus von der Decken in die Länder der Galla und Somali" of 1871 a plan of the ship is printet. I have enlarged this plan and made some detail drawings.

There were no drawings of the frames, I drew the frames like the pattern of other coastal and river steamers of this time.

The paddlewheels are simple with fixed paddles, it's made of 0,8 mm brass.

"Welf" means the aristocracy family of the "Welfen" in the kingdom of Hannover in Germany. the last King Georg V of Hannover gave some suppord of  the expedition. In 1866 the Kingdom of Hannover was allied with Austria. Both countries lost the "Deutschen Krieg"
(German war) in this year against Prussia. Hannover was then annectet by Prussia, King Georg went into exile.

In the preparation phase of the expedition King George made arrangements of building a big steam driven (!) 1 : 12 model of the "Welf". The model has being maintained in the magazin of the Hannover Historic Museum. Of couse the big vertical boiler is not authentic (I'm not shure, that the model's stability in water was sufficiend with this toplast), but photos of this model gave much help by building my boat.

Pictures of this items will follow soon, I hope in today`s evening.


Regards

Thomas

[Hankwilliams]

Hello

here are the pictures!

1 - 3 are shows my boat, pic 4 shows the assembling of the "Welf" in Sansibar, pic 5 is the wood engraving made after a sketch of Edurd Trenn, pic 6 - 9 shows the historic model in Hannover museum.

Regards

Thomas

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[Bierjunge]

here are the pictures!

1 - 3 are shows my boat,

Hello Thomas,

What's that beatiful tropical river steamer in the background of
http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/8333/lastscan3nj3.jpg ?
Also one of your model?

Moritz

[Hankwilliams]

Hi Moritz,

the model behind the "Welf" is the Congo sternwheeler "Ville des Bruges".
I will introduce her later.
The photo was made at Sinsheim steam meeting 2008.

Regards

Thomas

[Hankwilliams]

There are some news.

[Hankwilliams]

Interesting news about relicts...

Last week I visited a friend who has found an interesting article in italian language in the net. In 1986 the author Vincezo Meleca made an expedition of Juba river on Somalia. He found the place of the attac by somalian tribes of the Carl Claus v.d. Decken expedition of september 1865. There are relics of the "Welf" paddler: The whole boiler with funnel and parts of the engine are maintained. You will find article and photos on: Vincezo Meleca, Il relitto misterioso del fiume Giuba.

Thomas

[Hankwilliams]

Unfortunately the satellite picture of area Harriento/Matagassile and the other of the relics of the "Welf", fhe place of attac and wreckage are small and not very well focussed. Still gives an impression os the tragically end of a good prepared expedition 154 years ago...

Thomas

[Spankbucket]

Thank you for your detailed explanation of 'Welf'....I had just assumed it was 'wolf cub' and was SO wrong!!!

Without attempting to be pedantic I should confirm that the 1866 war is known in English as the 'Seven Weeks War'.

As someone with a keen interest in European military history your notes has triggered an interest to learn more about Hanover in this period. Usually I focus on the battle of Lissa, Custoza and Koniggratz, the three major battles of the war.

I also really enjoyed the details of your East African exploration. I didn't realise there was a German interest in Africa before unification in 1871 so I have also learnt something new again.

Keep your projects and information coming please!

[Hankwilliams]

Thank you, I didn`t know, that the "Deutsche Krieg" in Englis is named "Seven weeks War".

11 Years ago I posted some historical pictures of the Decken expedition. Because they are vanished, it may be interesting to post them again.

[Paddlemex]

Thanks for posting the pics again Thomas. I was about to mention that the imageshack pictures were not available anymore.

[Hankwilliams]

Good work, Jurgen. But the bore for the rudder seems a little bit displaced. No problem, the bore can be enlarged and the split can filled with resin.

Thomas