Sunken ship is brought ashore near Romanshorn TG in April
Published: Saturday, Mar 16th 2024, 08:20
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More than 90 years after it sank, the steamship Säntis is expected to be brought to the surface off Romanshorn TG on April 17. Lines are currently being pressed under the wreck at a depth of 210 meters at the bottom of Lake Constance in order to lift the ship later.
A platform will be used for the salvage operation, which will be placed above the wreck. Several lifting bags and two recovery pontoons, which can be filled with air and water and emptied again, will be used to lift the ship continuously and in a controlled manner.
"There are no signs of structural damage to the ship that would indicate that it would break when it is lifted," said Silvan Paganini when asked by the Keystone-SDA news agency. Paganini is president of the Schiffsbergeverein, an association in which several people have been working on a voluntary basis for months to initiate and realize the project. However, he cannot rule out the possibility of the "Säntis" breaking up.
Before the ship can be seen on the surface again, it will first be hoisted to just below the surface towards the end of March. While the recovery pontoons float on the surface, the wreck is still underneath and is to be towed in the lake to Romanshorn. There, the "Säntis" will be lowered again at a depth of around 12 meters.
Bad weather delayed preparatory work
In mid-April, the steamboat will be lifted to the surface using lifting bags and then towed to the shipyard of Schweizerische Bodensee-Schifffahrt AG (SBS) in Romanshorn. However, there is still a lot of preparatory work to be done before this can happen. The installation of the ropes underneath the hull has been delayed due to the bad weather. Paganini is confident that the schedule for the entire salvage operation can still be adhered to.
The next two weeks, during which the ropes are to be attached below the hull and the salvage operation to below the water surface is to begin, are crucial, says Paganini. "These phases have the greatest potential for something to go wrong."
Once the "Säntis" is in the SBS shipyard, the steel is cleaned and the ship is given a new coat of paint to prevent further corrosion. Paganini spoke of the "conservation" of the steamship. If the schedule works out, the ship will be on display at the shipyard during the harbor festival in Romanhorn on April 20 and 21.
No concrete plans for further use
What will happen to the ship in the long term is still unclear. SBS is providing a berth free of charge for two years. The first municipalities and SBS have already shown interest in possibly buying the ship. However, nothing has been finalized yet, says Paganini.
The "Säntis" was scuttled in May 1933 because it was no longer fit to sail. She was moored in the middle of the lake between Romanshorn and Langenargen D. Scrapping her was rejected as too expensive at the time. The 49-metre-long ship had been sailing on Lake Constance since 1892 and could carry 400 passengers.
The former owner of the ship, Schweizerische Bodensee-Schifffahrt AG, has sold the wreck to the ship salvage association for a symbolic franc. If the weather is too bad for salvage on April 17, the association will try again the following day.
According to the website of the Schiffsbergeverein, the salvage operation is being financed by crowdfunding, among other things. The cost of the salvage operation is estimated at around 200,000 Swiss francs. Numerous companies also supported the association with donations in kind.
©Keystone/SDA
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