Rheinfall (1869) - Berlingen, TG, CH
N 47° 40.514 E 009° 01.054
32T E 501318 N 5280204
The Glattdecker Rheinfall, sunk after an explosion of the boiler in Lake Constance near Berlingen 1869.
Waymark Code: WM16B1M
Location: Thurgau, Switzerland
Date Posted: 06/18/2022
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The Glattdecker Rheinfall, later renamed the Neptun, was a paddle-wheel drive steamship with a flush deck that operated on Lake Constance and the Upper Rhine.
The ship was built by Escher, Wyss & Cie. built and put into service in 1865 together with the sister ship Arenaberg by the Schaffhausener Dampfboot AG. It operated on the route from Schaffhausen to Constance, with Schaffhausen being the home port.
Original ship name Rheinfall
On December 20, 1869, while sailing from Berlingen, a boiler exploded near the landing stage on the ship, killing seven people and several cattle and injuring others. The ship sank immediately. The boiler was salvaged in 1995 and stands as a memorial at the shipping pier. The accident was reproduced as a scene in 1935 in the painting "Schiffsuntergang bei Berlingen" by the painter Adolf Dietrich. The ship's bell of the Rhine Falls still hangs on the Berlingen landing stage as a reminder.
Renaming to Neptune after accident
Two years later, in 1871, the sunken ship was raised, repaired and put back into service under a new name, Neptune. In 1922 she sank again during repair work in the shipyard, but was raised again and continued to be operated until she was finally scrapped in 1939.
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