Last night four of us enjoyed a presentation in English by Dr. Jürg Meister on the history of shipping in the Canton of Zug.  The tour took place after hours  in the public archive of Zug, in a small exhibit which was organized by Heinz Amstad, Managing Director of the Zug Shipping Agency (Schiffs-Agentur), to celebrate the 100th birthday of the MS Schwan (the Swan) The MS Schwan was built in Hamburg and purchased a few years later to ply the Ägerisee as the "Morgarten". It was subsequently employed on the Thunersee, on the Brienzerse (as the "Harder") and finally replaced another ship named MS Schwan on the Zugersee.  The Schawn sank in 2013 during a storm, but was subsequently raised and restored at great expense.

The steamship era began in Switzerland in the early 19th century with flush-deck steamboats.  It started  on Lake Geneva, where people with money lived and vacationed.  It only reached the much poorer and smaller Canton of Zug later, motivated by the need to transport tourists from Zug to visit Rigi.  The exhibit includes a half-dozen models of ships exemplifying the history of shipping on Zug's lakes.  They are on loan from Erich Liechti, a passionate model builder who has built over 160 ship models. He and Jürg Meister are co-authors of numerous books (in German) on the history of shipping in Switzerland, many of which can be ordered through the Shipping Agency.

Please see our Gallery for some photos of the tour and exhibit.  Those who missed the tour can still see the exhibit until Nov. 11th. The last public tour (in German) will take place on Thursday, Nov. 4th at 17:00.  Please see the Shipping Agency website for more information.