Dampfschlepper Woltman

The steam tug Woltman, built in 1904, is a rare, still seaworthy workboat with a coal-fired steam engine that once served in Hamburg's historic harbor. Named after Reinhard Woltman, a pioneer of flow measurement, it was designed by the Gebrüder Sachsenberg shipyard in Roßlau as a replacement vessel for the Hamburg Shipping and Harbor Deputation. Its original job was to move dredgers along the banks of the Lower Elbe and the Elbe estuary. After it was retired in 1976 due to rising operating costs and a stopover in the Netherlands, the ship returned to Germany in 1984. A comprehensive overhaul, which lasted until 2004, included the installation of a new boiler. Today the tug is moored at the Hamburg-Övelgönne Museum Harbor. Visitors can admire the riveted and partly welded bar-keel construction and explore the five watertight compartments, including the boiler room with its coal bunkers, the engine room, and the crew's cabins.