Boats that Sank on the Vltava without Loss of Life (Portal of Prague)

River boats did not carry many passengers during the winter months. For the first time in 42 years boat services operated throughout the winter of 1991. The company that had been the sole provider of riverboat services on the Vltava, Dopravní Podnik Praha (Prague Public Transport Authority) once again under its original name Pražská Paroplavební Společnost (Prague Steamboat Company), now had to cope with competitors.

Private companies like Conti, Kamýk Ekontrans Moravia and others had come on the scene. At that time demand was relatively high and it was mostly a case of a widened range of services. Unfortunately, Dopravní podnik (DP) seems to have been short of good ideas. Even the refreshment on offer on their services was quite uninteresting. Therefore several boats appeared serving as mobile or static restaurants. One of these was the Kamýk, which was moored at Švermův, as it was then, nowadays Štefánkův bridge. The Kamýk served as a kind of substitute for the Bunkr rock club, which had been driven out of Lodecká street by the City Council of Prague 1. This location remains empty to this day.

In 1997, more precisely on 4th January, the Kamýk sank. The firmly moored restaurant boat did not go under completely, but went down at the bow where, after an inspection by divers, a valve broke. Fire-fighters came immediately, began mopping up escaping oil and gradually, over the course of the day, managed to raise the bow of the boat, which was resting on the bottom of the river.

The fire-fighters’ work continued the next day when the boat was secured in such a way that it could be moved away for repair. The broken valve, which allowed water to pour into the boat, was eventually put down to the severe temperature, which at that time had dropped below -10°C. Under emergency safety conditions the boat was then towed away to the harbour at Holešovice to have the valve repaired. Later, in 2002, the Kamýk underwent reconstruction in the shipyard at Mělník. Shots of the accident were taken in 1997 when Prague fire-fighters were working on the boat.

It isn’t often that boats on the Vltava sink. In 1997 the steamer Labe went down in Smíchov harbour while awaiting repair. In May 1998 the steamer Vltava damaged its bow while navigating lock gates at Dětský island and started sinking. Furthermore, the hull was buckled and further cracks appeared. The cost of repairs was over 500,000 crowns. No-one came to any harm in this accident either. In 2004 another Prague boat, the Praha, sank in Chvaletické shipyard without any discernible cause. Neither was there any loss of life in this accident.

And so the only real catastrophe remains the explosion of the boiler on the steamer František Josef I on 19th May 1898, when three people were killed and another 15 were injured.