Last modified: 2019-08-07 by 
klaus-michael schneider
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![[Oberweser Dampfschiffahrt]](../images/d/de~obwes.gif)
image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 31 July 2019
In 1842 the Vereinte Weser-Dampfschifffahrt was established in Hameln. The only purpose was tansportation of passengers between Hannoversch Münden, where is the confluence of Werra and Fulda, and Bremen. Until 1846 five vessels were acquired and there was a shipping line with stops also in Holzminden, Hameln, Minden and Nienburg. Since 1848 the vessels sailed under the management of Norddeutscher Lloyd. A big part of the business was transportations of emigrants heading for America to the seaport of Bremen. Due to the success of railway connections the company ended in 1873. W. Lampe bought two of the steamers but was forced to give up after two years of of low tide. J. Meyer from Hameln bought these steamers and started a new ship with only 40cm flotation depth in 1877. But he also failed in 1882. In 1883 Wesermühle, a mill in in Hameln, bought the new steamer with low flotation depth and on 19 May 1883 the Oberweser Dampfschiffahrt (OWD) came to being as a branch of Wesermühle. Tourist business developed in the area and became the most important business for shipping on the river. In 1900 a new steamer was bought, and she remained in service for more than 70 years, until she was sold to Lauenburg upon Elbe. In 1906 the shipping branch became an independent company. Between 1906 and 1910 four paddle steamers were acquired from Sächsisch-Böhmische Dampfschiffahrts-Gesellschaft. The company organised tourist triips in the 1920ies on the upper course of Weser River between (Hannoversch) Münden and Hameln. The season was between May and September. Between 1925 and 1939 all steamers were replaced by motor vessels. In 1939 the German Army confiscated two vessels and brought them to the Weichsel River. They never came back. Since 1967 the fleet was completely renewed. But in 2003 the company went into bankruptcy and a few of its ships were bought by Flotte Weser GmbH & Co.KG, the Oberweser section based in Hameln, and the Mittelweser based in Nienburg, a new company established in 1998.
Source: Klaus-Peter Bühne's webpage
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 26 July 2019
The flag was white fimbriated orange at top- and bottom-edge, shifted to the hoist was an equilateral blue triangle, consisting of four smaller ones, three of them blue and in centre white with a blue pall.
Source: Weserbergland Merian-Heft XXIII 4, frontpage and preface
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 31 July 2019
![[Oberweser Dampfschiffahrt pennant]](../images/d/de~obwesp.gif)
image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 26 July 2019
The penannt was white fimbriated orange at top- and bottom-edge, shifted to the hoist was an equilateral blue triangle, consisting of four smaller ones, three of them blue and in centre white with a blue pall.
Source: photo provided by Klaus-Peter Bühne
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 26 July 2019
![[Oberweser Dampfschiffahrt ca. 1920]](../images/d/de~obweso.gif)
image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 6 July 2019
The flag was a red-white-red horizontal triband. The white stripe was charged by a yellow millwheel , superimposed by a black milrind, the wheel was flanked by two black anchors, one in bend and the other in bend sinister. Wheel and milrind are taken from the city arms of Hameln.
Source: I spotted this flag in the Duisburg Inland Shipping Museum on 24 Sep 2016.
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 6 July 2019
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