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Side-Wheeled Paddle Steamers
Smialy (ex- Elch, ex - Hluboka, ex- Beethoven, ex- Walrave, ex - Gresham)
Built in 1905 by J I Thornycroft at
Southampton
Engines : Compound Diagonal by Scott of Greenock
Length : 130 feet
120 Gross Registered Tons
Engine : Compound diagonal 16 and 31 in x 36 in
Served London County
Council's River Thames service from Greenwich to Hammersmith from
1905-1907
Taken over by the City Steamboat Company
Sold in 1910 to the Koln-Mulheimer Dampfschiffsgesellschaft on the Rhein and renamed Walrave
Sold in 1920 for service from Memel (East Prussia, now
Klaipeda) for cargo and passengers as Beethoven
Owned by the Reederei Gebrueder Berger at Russ on the River Memel and used for river services to Tilsit and cruises in the Curonian Lagoon
Sank
near memel after a collision with the paddle steamer Cranz near Memel
in June 1924. Although repaired she did not return to service
Moved to Prague in 1926 and used on the Vltava as a tug and renamed Hluboka
During World War II she was appropriated by the German Army and moved
to the River Vistula and renamed Elch
Understood to have been sunk in 1944 and raised three years later for
use by the river authorities, now Polish, at Pulawy as Smialy
From 1955-1958 she was based at Plock and until 1965 at Tczew
Left the Vistula for the north Polish coast at Mielno, where she was
hauled onto land and used as a clubhouse
Her
hull (minus sponsons. funnel etc) remains in situ at Lazy (as of
google earth 2022) on the Jezioro Jamno lagoon off Mielenska Street at
Wczasowa Street
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London County Council
Germany : East Prussia
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