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From the North Sea up to Hamburg, sea going ships with a draft of 12 feet could reach Hamburg directly. The free passage from the North Sea up to Hamburg without paying any tolls was guaranteed by an imperial order from 1189. In the 14th century Hamburg bought the island "Neuwerk" and land around "Ritzebuettel (Cuxhaven) as bases for protection of the Elbe. On "Neuwerk" itself a beacon fire, sort of primitive light-house was erected for marking the entrance to the Elbe. The passage itself was marked with wooden buoys since the 15th century. Additionally pilots were available since 1497.
Men towing a ship upriver on the Elbe |
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The river Elbe was and is one of the most important waterways in Germany. It connected Bohemia (at this time part of Austria) and Saxony (with its capital Dresden) to Hamburg and the North Sea. Shipping at this time however was hard work and dangerous because practically nothing was done to improve the river conditions till the 18th century. We don't even have a regular path along the river bank for most of its length. Only in Saxony were paths mandatory so that you could use horses for towing the ships. Along all other parts of the river Elbe, men had to tow the ships. If that wasn't possible, due to the river bank conditions, a rope was transported upriver. One end was fastened on land, the other one was brought back to the ship. Then pull and tow the ship upriver. Repeat that procedure. Downriver they used the current and sails, if possible.
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Even so the advantages for trade (speed, transport capability) were obvious compared with travelling on roads. Ships downriver and fully loaded used sails, oars or the current. Upriver the ships were often empty or only lightly loaded. Because of the tributaries of the river Elbe, namely the Saale, Havel and Elde, its actual worth for trade was even greater. The river Saale, shippable upriver to Halle, connected Thuringia. The river Havel connected Brandenburg and its capital Berlin to it. A canal named Finow-canal, built early in the 17th century (1605-1620), even connected the rivers Havel and Oder. That means Silesia with the town Breslau (todays Wroclaw) and the port of Stettin (todays Szcecin).
Biggest obstacles: water mills (534 water mills in the year 1500) , toll stations (around 50 in the 17th century), sand banks, shallow water and ravines ("Domfelsen") near Magdeburg. Till the 18th century nothing was done to improve the waterway. The only thing the people could do was to lighten the ship, pass the obstacle and load again.
The biggest ships travelling upriver from Hamburg to Dresden transported around 50 tons of cargo. However the lower Elbe seems to have been in better condition, at least sometimes. In the middle of the 17th century, Hamburg traders used ships with around 200 tons to travel to Berlin. Upriver the river Elbe, then upriver the river Havel.
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Water Mill |
Actual survey of the river Elbe in 1873:
| Upriver of the Saale tributary: | | Shippable for ships with a draft of 2 feet |
| Downriver to Magdeburg (Havel tributary): | | Shippable for ships with a draft of 3 feet |
| Downriver to Hamburg: | | Shippable for ships with a draft of 4 feet |
Water levels in dry seasons however could drop even below those levels. Example: 1904, 1911
| | Water levels for the Upper and Middle Elbe: | | 1.5 feet |
| | Water level downriver of Magdeburg: | | 2.3 feet |
Main tributaries:
- Saale
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| Regular shipping with bigger river ships was reported only from Halle downriver. At this part of the Saale there existed 3 locks. Upriver shipping with small river boats is possible till Naumburg and the river Unstrutt. Farther upriver to Jena NO shipping possible, only rafts were used to transport fire wood downriver. (Additional source: town museum of Jena.) |
Old Style Lock
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Diagram of Lock
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- Havel
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Shippable up to Berlin. Three locks were used to bypass existing water mills. |
- Elde
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River Trave (Luebeck to Baltic Sea)
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Luebeck became a free Imperial town in 1226. Along with this rights came the ownership of both shore regions along the Trave and the peninsula of Priwall. In 1329 Luebeck bought Travemuende. Here they erected a light-house in 1539. It exists even today. The passage way between Luebeck and Travemuende was marked with wooden stakes. The water depth was around 11.5-13.2 feet. Since the water velocity was very small, mud and earth could sink down and diminish the water depth. So Luebeck started with excavating the Trave in the 16th century to preserve the water depth. In the 17th century they built a dam across parts of the Trave to artificially create a higher water velocity and so avoid mud "settlements".
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River Oder
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Good conditions between Stettin (Szcecin) and Frankfurt/Oder. As always towing the ships upriver with horses or men. Upriver of Frankfurt, conditions were a lot worse. The river took many turns and sandbanks and water mills were big obstacles for ships. The river itself wasn't that deep, water velocity was low. If a sandbank stopped traffic, all available men from the ships grabbed shovels to open up a passage. If necessary, cargo was removed to lighten the ship too. Because of the low water level, water mills used weirs to reach an acceptable water level. Passages for ships were as small as possible, because they didn't want to lose any water. Ships downriver used the current to pass those weirs. Ships upriver were towed using an installed winch. Traders from Silesia appealed in the 16th century to the Emperor that the owners of all those water mills didn't fulfill their duty to leave an opening in their weirs of one "Koenigsmass". That's around 28 feet. An inspection in 1609 proved that a lot of weirs only had passages 6-9 feet wide.
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River Warnow
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(Additional source: archive of the city of Rostock)
The river Warnow was shippable without any restrictions from the Baltic Sea at Warnemuende to Rostock itself. No restrictions means that all ships of this time could reach Rostock even fully loaded. This part of the river is around 9 miles long. Its width between 1649-3048 feet. Only near Warnemuende was the width only 215 feet. Here earth moving works were almost continuously necessary. Warnemuende belonged to Rostock since 1323. In 1348/49 a beacon fire was erected for marking the entrance to the Warnow. Above Rostock the river Warnow was very shallow so only small boats ("Prahms") could use it.
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River Danube
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Another major waterway in Germany. Shippable up to the town of Ulm. People used either rafts or river barges (Max. length 150 feet, width 25 feet). Shipping downriver was called "Naufahrt", shipping upriver "Gegenfahrt".
Main cargos:
- Salt from the towns of Hallein, Berchtesgaden, Reichenhall and Traunstein.
- Iron from the Oberpfalz region.
- wood
And it was, of course, the major supply line in the wars against the Ottoman Empire. Especially during the two sieges of Vienna.
Stone Bridge in Regensburg |
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Main obstacles for shipping were the rapids near Passau and the "Steinerne Bruecke" (Stone Bridge) in Regensburg. In case of high water levels it was very difficult just to pass under that bridge.
Spring floodings were a main danger along this river especially with the many tributaries starting in the Alpes mountains.
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Main tributaries:
- Iller
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Use of rafts downriver for wood transport. |
- Lech
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Rafts downriver for wood transport with the starting point in Reutte/Tirol. |
- Altmuhl
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Shippable up to the town of Beilngries. Here cargo for Nuremberg and farther north was offloaded and transported overland to Nuremberg and the rivers Regnitz/Main/Rhine. |
- Nab and Vils
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Shippable up to the town of Amberg in the Oberpfalz region. The cargo downriver was iron, upriver salt. |
- Isar
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Use of rafts downriver for wood transport. |
- Inn and Salzach
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Very different water levels in summer and winter. Shipping with river barges upriver at least possible up to Wasserburg near Munich. Shipping downriver with rafts started at hall in Tirol (salt transport). |
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Canals
Stecknitz canal
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It connects the river Trave, just outside of Luebeck with the river Elbe. Built 1391-1398. Possibly the first canal in Europe which had to cross a watershed. Of course modernized and enlarged in later centuries. Lenght 58 miles with 15 locks. Only parts of it were a real canal (7.2 miles from the Moellner lake to the river Delvenau). For the rest they used the rivers Stecknitz and Delvenau, of course with locks. Around 1480 first use of locks in the canal. "Modern" locks were invented in 1438 Italy. At first only ships around 33-39m lenght with 7.5 tons freight capacity could use the canal. After enlarging and building the locks, ships up to 62 feet lenght, 10 feet width, draft 1.6 feet and 12.5 metric tons capacity could use it.
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Kesselschleuse; Kettle Lock (Modern Chamber Lock) |
Built especially for the transport of salt from Lueneburg to Luebeck. Luebeck became the biggest trading center for salt in the Baltic. Salt was really important then, used for the preservation of meat and fish. Between 1500 and 1550 alone, Luebeck transported around 12400 tons of salt every year through this canal.
Luebeck could use this canal for "free". If they wanted to transport freights farther than Lauenburg, let's say using the river Elbe to transport goods to Hamburg, they had to use ships from Lauenburg. All freight destined for transport on the river Elbe had to be shifted to ships from Lauenburg. That treaty started in 1417, it ended in 1844. All shipping personal had to be a member of the "Bruderschaft" (brotherhood?) of the "Stecknitzfahrer", some kind of guild. Their privileges ended only in 1848. The unskilled workers for pulling the ships ("Treidelknechte") were called "Linentrecker". They were of course not members of the guild.
The canal itself runs through the state of Lauenburg. Lauenburg was an independent state of the Empire, not under Danish control. The canal itself goes almost straight south from Luebeck. It connects to the Elbe at Lauenburg.
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"Viechelnsche Fahrt" (Wismar-Elde canal)
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(Additional sources: archive of the Hanse town of Wismar, archive of the town of Parchim)
When Luebeck built the Stecknitz canal, Wimar lost almost its whole share of the salt trade since the "Stecknitz" canal was cheaper than transport over land. Lueneburg itself was unhappy that they were dependent from one main buyer, Luebeck.
So both got together with the Dukes of Mecklenburg to build a waterway from Wismar to the river Elde. Work starting in 1530. The first part, a canal between Doemitz and Eldena with 10 locks was completed in 1572. It was called "New Elde". This part was necessary because the river Elde itself in this region crossed Brandenburg, the new canal was only on Mecklenburg territory. The waterway then used the rivers Elde and Stoer to reach the Schwerin lake (with 6 additional locks). This was completed around 1576.
Shipping was possible on these parts for ships up to 24 tons. Shipping further upriver the Elde (upriver of the river Stoer) was only possible with small boats and not used regularly. The archive of Parchim reports occasional shippings of small boats and rafts.
The remaining part of the waterway (10 miles), from the Schwerin lake (the town of Vichel) to Wismar was the biggest problem. The height difference was 130 feet. This canal was completed in 1594. It's width was around 50 feet. The canal had 12 locks (Lenght 82-89 feet, Breath 17-19 feet). The first four "salt" barges with 24 tons freight each from Lueneburg even arrived in Wismar in 1594. But then the Dukes of Mecklenburg didn't have enough money for the completion of the locks and maintaining the canal, so the canal was abandoned in 1597. By that I mean the part from Vichel to Wismar. (Parts of it can be even seen today.)
The rest from the river Elbe at Doemitz up to the Schwerin lake was completed. In 1629 Wallenstein initiated studies for the recovery of this last part, so the remaining parts must have been usable.
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Finow canal
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Built early in the 17th century (1605-1620) to connect the rivers Havel (and through it the river Elbe) with the river Oder. That means Silesia with the town Breslau (todays Wroclaw) and the port of Stettin (todays Szcecin) with Berlin, Dresden, Magdeburg and Hamburg. Lenght 24 miles with 20 locks.
Because of the beginning 30-Year-War, no money was available for repair works. The canal fell into decline and a 100 years later, nobody even remembered it.
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General information
The river Rhine was generally more important than the river Elbe. So efforts at water-works were much more concentrated at the river Rhine and its tributaries, especially in the 19th century.
Generally first efforts to improve the river conditions were started as early as the 16th and 17th century. Most of them were unsuccessful just because of the political situation in the HRE (hundreds of principalities). If even one party/noble disagreed with an existing plan... You notice that all of the successful plans involved only a small number of participants. Like the three canals mentioned here.
I should mention the "Stapelrecht" too. It's a right given to towns. It means that your ship has to stop there, unload your goods and offer it to the local traders. Usually after three days, you're free to reload your ship and proceed with your journey. Those are written rights, in some cases several centuries old. Four towns had the right of "Stapelrecht" at the river Elbe at that time. Pirna and Dresden in Saxony. Magdeburg and Hamburg. Saxony didn't allow any Bohemian boats to travel the river Elbe since 1443. They had to unload their freight at Pirna and use other ships. Only exemption, grain ships. They could travel as far as Dresden.
I omitted several smaller rivers like the river Weser (Bremen) for example. Shipping was possible upriver to Celle using first the river Weser, then the Tributary Aller.
Use of locks was quite common in the 17th century. All of the canals and tributaries mentioned here used them. However the first lock of the river Elbe itself was only built at the time of Frederick the Great. Probably because they weren't capable of the engineering necessary for this task. So they used "Staustufen" and "Wehrluecken" (barrages and sluices?).
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