Three is Not a Crowd
By Bob Galbally
A recent interstate road trip with lifelong friend Martin Bryan, led us to a glide on the Murray river. Aficionados of wooden boats ogle at the age of Echuca’s paddle steamers. We took the PS Adelaide, claimed by the owners to be “the oldest working wooden hulled paddle steamer in the world”. She was built in 1866. This claim deserved research and I will refer to the result below.
The PS Adelaide is not as large as the more well known PS Emmy Lou but is 23.10 metres LOA. She has a beam of 5.20 metres and a draught of .71 metres. For seventy seven years until 1949 she towed three barges up the river to forests twice a week for the Murray river sawmills. She flies the Murray river flag. She is in good condition and takes tourists for day trips. I have attached my photograph of this vessel.
This gem is a bit of an eyeopener. The boiler sits low in the hull and runs about three quarters of the length of the vessel. I was surprised at how much heat is generated in the centre of the vessel by a boiler which was installed in 1936 and holds thousands of litres of water. Visitors are warned not to stand on the chains running along the deck which operate the rudder.
My research disclosed two other marvels, the PS Hjejlen in Denmark and the DS Skibladner in Norway. To give some context to the age of these paddle steamers, they were being built during the Crimean war, Victoria’s gold rush and the Indian Rebellion.
Here again is the claim that the SS Hjejlen is the world’s oldest coal-burning operational paddle steamer. Built in 1861, she began life shipping tourists and in 1932 became a public mail boat.She still sails the Silkeborg lakes in Denmark offering cruises through the Danish countryside.
The trophy to my mind goes to the DS Skibladner. This is the oldest wooden hulled paddle steamer still operating. Built in 1856 she operates on Norway’s lake Mjosa and on the same route ever since its maiden voyage. She undertakes tours and dining during the summer months.
So of these three wooden paddle steamers, all built within a decade of each other, all still operating, all powered by steam, Victoria has its own southern wooden boat gem. How lucky are we?