Chain boat navigation on the Main

As the canalisation project progressed upstream, the barrages required for this made chain towage more challenging, particularly due to the extended waiting times at the locks.

This led to the emergence of a new competitor in the form of the propeller, which was made possible by the greater depth of the navigation channel.

Conversely, during the summer months, the water level in the channels, which were typically only half a metre deep, decreased to a few centimetres, resulting in the formation of shallows and sandbanks.

They usually began with a Frankensau or a market boat and continued via Schelche, Schlumper and Nachen to the smallest vessel, the Ankernachen.

Therefore, profit could usually only be made when the fairway was sufficiently deep and with fully loaded ships travelling downstream.

However, the venture was unsuccessful due to design flaws in the steam engine and the challenging navigation conditions in the heavily silted Main estuary.

As early as 1858, the unprofitability of steam navigation with paddle steamers led to the discontinuation of this mode of transport.

On 15 February 1871, he applied to the authorities in Prussia, Bavaria and Hesse for a corresponding licence, encouraged by the companies that had just started up on the Elbe.

The committee was supported by Ewald Bellingrath, who had already played a leading role in the introduction of chain navigation on the Elbe and Neckar rivers.

In 1885, the Hessian joint-stock company Mainkette-AG was granted a concession to operate chain shipping on the Main and through the Rhine to the port of Mainz.

The chain ships were capable of pulling themselves and up to ten attached barges at speeds of around five kilometres per hour.

And the children and old people stood and marvelled.In the following years, Mainkette-AG expanded its fleet of ships with three screw steam tugs.

[6] In 1892, the Bavarian government granted the Mainkette-AG's repeated request to extend its chain to Miltenberg, subject to the proviso that it could be cancelled at any time.

From 1895 to 1901, the Hessian Mainkette-AG continued to operate its chain boats on the Bavarian sections of the river as far as Miltenberg or Lohr.

The newly established state company was tasked with constructing five chain tug boats, designated K.B.K.S.

The Königlich Bayerische Kettenschleppschiffahrt-Gesellschaft purchased the chain between Aschaffenburg and Miltenberg from the Mainkette-AG and extended it in the following years: 1900 to Kitzingen, 1911 to Schweinfurt and 1912 to Bamberg.

All goods, in particular the Ruhr coal required to operate the Bavarian state railways, were to be transported there by ship, stockpiled, stored and distributed.

With the progressive canalisation of the Main as far as Aschaffenburg in 1921, the Mainkette-AG was only able to use its screw-driven boats economically and ceased tugboat operations entirely in the early 1930s.

[4] In 1935, the Nuremberg Reichsbahn Directorate also had to state the following for the Bavarian route: "The volume of traffic on the chain tugboat service on the Main has declined extraordinarily in the first half of this year [1935] due to competition from screw boats, so that operations have almost come to a standstill and the question of completely closing down the company must be considered.

"[10] The reason given for this was: The screw tugs benefit from the fact that they are considerably cheaper to purchase and operate than the chain boats, despite the greater engine power required.

But tomorrow it will be part of the history of Main navigation.The chain tow had priority over other ships in front of dangerous river sections.

The families of the skippers were aware of the convoy's arrival and were able to provide provisions, clothing, and news via small boats, known as "Nachen."

[6] The chain's own weight and its natural entanglement with the river bed meant that it could exert a tensile force of around 40,000 newtons (equivalent to around 4,000 kg).

This enabled the ship to be steered and to travel downhill without a chain at a speed of approximately 14 kilometres per hour.

The additional drive also permitted directional corrections to be made while travelling on the chain, as well as facilitating turning manoeuvres.

Additionally, there is a 1:5 scale model of a double winch that winds and unwinds the chain at the touch of a button.

A second model of a chain boat is on display in the meeting room of Wörth town hall and can be loaned to other museums and exhibitions if required.

Additionally, the museum displays an original ship's bell from the Royal Bavarian Chain Steamship No.

In the autumn of 2009, the associations "Technikdenkmal Määkuh" and "AbaKuZ e. V." initiated a campaign to prevent the vessel from being scrapped and to facilitate its subsequent reconstruction in its original form.

The ship's hull, with a maximum clearance height of approximately 1.80 metres, was to be used as a café or exhibition space in the immediate vicinity of the castle in the future.