Ulmer Zillen auf der Werra

Abstract

Ernest the Pious was the first sovereign of Saxony-Gotha, a Thuringian duchy created in 1640-41 through partition of an estate. His land had been devastated by the Thirty Years' War, and he sought to revive its economy by promoting export activities. His efforts in this context were dedicated in part to the export of wood to Bremen and the Netherlands for use in shipbuilding, and even to London for that city's reconstruction after the Great Fire of 1666. The wood was to be transported by means of rafting. For the export of other products, Ernest endeavoured to make the River Werra navigable. These plans were thwarted, however, by the disinterest of the riverside land owners and the staple rights of the cities of Wanfried and Hannoversch Münden, as well as by problems of a technical and financial nature. Nevertheless, in the period from 1655 to 1667 he repeatedly undertook practical attempts to travel the Werra by boat. Sources found recently in the Thuringian State Archive of Gotha and the City Archive of Ulm have shed new light on these activities. They testify to the fact that, in the winter of 1648, boatmen of Ulm effected the construction of two flatboats for the Duke of Gotha. The documents of Gotha even include a precise construction description and dimensioned projections of the vessels, providing clear insight into the boats' dimensions and the manner in which the two boatmen proceeded. The two vessels were laid on the stocks in the middle of the Thuringian Forest, near the former Georgenthal Cloister. There is a description of how the bottoms were constructed, the Sideboards attached, the curvilinear ribs then incorporated and the vessels finally caulked with moss, shavings and clamps. ln the spring of 1 649 the two flatboats were transported with the aid of a "ship wagon" through the Thuringian Forest and hoisted into the Werra at Salzungen. Unfortunately nothing is known about the success or (more probable) failure of the first navigational endeavours of Ernest the Pious.