1922 Side Wheel Tugboat

Thanks to Jan van der Doe, enjoy these photos of a radschleppdampfer, translated as “side wheel steamer,” a museum ship in Duisburg, Germany.

The side wheel barge tug Oscar Huber was built in Duisburg Ruhrort in 1922. She towed barges until 1966 between Rotterdam and Karlsruhe, about a 300-mile trip on the Rhine. She’s a sole survivor, the only of its kind on the Rhine River saved from scrapping. In 1974 it was turned into a museum.

   

See her in her 1950s b/w glory in this video, with all narration in German. Color video sans narration can be seen here. More video here. 

 

She was recently moved w to a shipyard in Friedrichsfeld–15 miles down the Rhine– as shown here by Herkules IX and Franz Haniel 14.  Both push boats operate for HGK.

 

Note the folded down stacks.

 

Many thanks to Jan for sharing these photos. 

Click here for some posts of Swiss side wheel steamers, photos thanks to Rich Taylor. 

Speaking of HGK and inland river towing, my latest favorite YouTube channel is marktwained, chronicling the work of a Mississippi River captain/pilot.