Chain steam shipping (also chain shipping) is a little known chapter in the history of shipping on the river Elbe between 1866 and 1948.

The chain steamers pull themselves upstream along a fixed chain lying on the ground of a river. The chain was raised from the riverbed to pass over the deck of the steamer. The chain was moved by a heavy winch powered by a steam engine. A lot of different companies operated also on the rivers Rhein, Neckar, Main, Saale, Havel, Spree, Saône, using chain steamers, also companies in Belgium, Holland and in the USA.

See also

Cable ferry

References

• Preble George Henry: A Chronological History of the Origin and Development of Steam Navigation;2009 page 268, ISBN 978-1113191076
• Sigbert Zesewitz, Helmut Düntzsch, Theodor Grötschel: Kettenschiffahrt. VEB Verlag Technik, Berlin 1987, ISBN 978-3341002827