Solvay 98

Solvay 98, registration NY3066F, was built in 1931 at Choisy-le-Roi.  All information is taken from Vagus-Vagrant.fr unless stated otherwise.

When Solvay sold her she was renamed Roquette - see more information further down this page.

Solvay 98 was involved in an accident with the Fumay bridge on February 5 1955. Here is the Nevada/Solvay 98 accident as reported in the 'Revue de la Navigation intérieure et rhénane' of March 10, 1955:

COLLISION ON THE MEUSE RIVER

Sinking of a barge and destruction of the temporary bridge at Fumay

The mainstream press briefly reported at the time the serious accident that occurred at the beginning of February on the Meuse River at Fumay, which resulted, in addition to the sinking of a barge, in the destruction of a temporary bridge over the river. We were able to gather the following details and illustrations on this subject:

On February 5, 1955, at 4:45 p.m., the self-propelled barge SOLVAY 98, traveling upstream, was completing its passage through the navigable channel of the Fumay bridge. To combat the current of the slightly swollen Meuse River, he was assisted by a tractor from the C.G.T.V.N. (National Transport Company), as its 30 hp engine was too weak to propel it alone.

The self-propelled boat NEVADA, belonging to Mr. Noterdaeme and piloted by its owner, was traveling downstream and came within sight of the bridge, approximately 500 meters upstream. Upon spotting the SOLVAY 98 in the bridge's only passage, Mr. Noterdaeme reduced his engine speed, but, believing the passage would be cleared quickly, did not attempt any further maneuvers.

However, passing under the Fumay bridge, which coincides with a change of towline, is an operation that, in normal water levels, takes about ten minutes due to the tractor's mandatory towline cut. In high water, the maneuver takes even longer.

When he approached the bridge under which the stern of the SOLVAY 98 was still berthed, he attempted to straighten his boat by turning the stern propeller. This maneuver, coming too late, yielded no results, so he tried to enter the channel partially occupied by the SOLVAY 98. However, he could no longer steer, his speed relative to the water being zero, and he collided with the SOLVAY 98 on the starboard side, about ten meters from the bow.

With his bow immobilized, he swung his stern onto the deck, breaking a pier which, however, did not collapse completely. He remained braced against it, wedged under the severed upstream pilings. The SOLVAY 98 reversed about thirty meters downstream from the bridge and was moored. It was taking on water, and its cargo of foundry sand prevented the firefighters, who had been urgently summoned, from deploying sufficiently powerful pumps. It sank at 9 p.m.

The conclusion drawn from this accident is simple: the dangers posed to navigation by temporary bridges like the one destroyed at Fumay are too obvious to ignore the need to do everything possible to replace them with permanent structures. It is high time, ten years after the war, to remove such dangerous remnants.

For more information on the bridge accident click this link. Here are some photos taken at the scene:

Here is a photo of the bridge before the accident:

Here are three images taken from the press of the day:

These two photos of Solvay 98 were taken the day after the accident:

This photo shows a further temporary crossing being installed:

She was restored after the accident, and here she is much later on the canalized Moselle, in the Aingeray reach (54):

Solvay 98 had her cabin modernised in Broutin at Laneuveville in 1956:

A group Solvays in Strasbourg, from left to right: 124, 98, 79, 77 & 69:

This is an undated photo without a location and I don't know where it came from:

Solvay 98 was put up for sale at the end of 1979 by Solvay, following the retirement of René Caron. It was bought by Mr. Francis Kupferschmitt, a boatman from Nancy (54). He renamed it "Roquette." In 1988, it was sold to the MICLO Shipyard for scrapping. The shipyard donated it to the Moselle Yacht Club association with the intention of using it as a hangar for windsurfing boards and kayaks. This project never materialized, and its fate remains unknown. Did it go elsewhere? Or was it scrapped?

Here are some photos of Roquette: