Pack ice was still dense on the river, when we arranged the
towage and started our slow motion up. At first our progress have
been fine as, expecting a higher current speed in the Austrian
section, the towage consisted of only six barges.
The upper Danube is completely different from its lower stretch.
The river bed is narrower and, with the exception of a hundred
miles, where the river makes the border line between Hungary and
Slovakia, as well as the same length in Bavaria, the bank is always
hilly. That section had been tamed much earlier than the cataracts
on the Lower Danube. The higher industrialisation made it
impossib-le to transport raw materials by surface means only,
inland water-ways had been created by taming rivers and
constructing canals. At the time I write about the first dam on the
Danube below us was a plan only, but in the Austrian section I have
seen the fourth one in construction at Aschach.
Most beautiful part of the Hungarian Danube section is the Dan-
ube Bend, it is well known even among foreigners. On the right bank
you can see the silhouettes of Pilis, on the opposite bank those
54
Danube
of Börzsöny. Both are only two to three thousand feet high. Moving
farther upriver, the territory soon becomes Slovak and this is not to
change, until the boat enters Austria. On the left side you can see
Hungarian villages and towns, but, before reaching Austria here
too, for some miles this bank becomes Slovak. This is the place
where lush green flood area woods grow on both sides, within
Szigetköz (among islands) and Csallóköz (among bushes). On this
section of the river to manoeuver a boat you face the hardest
difficulties. The large mass of deposit that the river can still keep in
floating on the Austrian section, here will be dropped to the bottom.
Without a drastic regulation of this section in favour of a bigger
depth, here such an enormous dredging would be needed that on
the one hand is impossible to realise, and on the other even the
construction industry of all the world could not use up the resulting
gravel. So much water must still flow down in the Danube (especial-
ly by the reduced rate of flow coming still into the main channel),
until the people living on both banks of the great river can find a
common solution for this problem. If there is no way to improve
shipping compared to the present conditions, it will mean a brake
not only for the economies of the two neighbouring countries be-
cause of unutilised potentials, but goods from far away will also
avoid this circulation. The Rhine-Main-Danube waterway will be a
chain falling apart on two separate pieces for the missing link.
Tugboats destined for the Upper Danube had generally been
dispatched from the capital with a towage assembled only tem-
porarily, as the final assembly had been done in Komárom. We
have got our valid disposition also at that place. You sure guessed
already that my family name has something to do with this town.
Well, it has been originally also a title of nobility, my ancestors, al-
though they were poor people (in our country called "noblemen with
a bare seven plum trees"), three generations earlier were living
there. This was the first time that I saw the town -- not Új(new)-
Szöny that was the original name of today's Hungarian Komárom,
but the city called today Komárno, originally a Hungarian country
seat --, but I only had time to make a mental picture about it over the
55
Canned roaddust
river. Later I had the opportunity to visit it. About this first route only
the two bridges at Komárom and the one at Medve has remained in
my memory. And Pozsony (or Bratislava in Slovak and Pressburg in
German), a little farther upriver with the unequalled beautiful castle.
There was no bridge at that town that time, today there are two of
them, they block the fine view. That time only the bridge above town,
used both for railway and route traffic, provided a crossing
opportunity.
Above Pozsony we soon reached the Austrian border, first on
the right, then on the left bank. The latter is synonymous with the
Dévény fortress ruins at the inflow of the river Morava. It is the same
today, but then the difference in the sight of land at the two sides of
the border was even more apparent. The Austrian section has been
properly built keeping in mind the modern rules of protection against
flood and ice drift. Looking out through the porthole I could see the
signal stones integrated into the embankment every 100 meters, as
well as the kilometre signs of the river. The gardens and meadows
coming down to the river were well kept, a proof that the owner
considered it important to give them a fine appearance. From the
border to the first houses of Vienna there was only about twenty five
miles. There opened the wintering harbour of tank-barges, then a
little further the other wintering harbour became visible. Another
hour and we arrived at Handelskai (commercial port), there was our
rented place to let the barges drop anchor. The lowermost Vienna
bridge, the Stadlau one, lay there with its traditional grid structure.
We stopped in Vienna for only a short stay, this way only the
sight from the Danube remained in my memory that time. The
Danube was spanned by a special suspension bridge at the place,
where the road led to the city centre. That was the Reichsbrücke, it
had got a (then) new name after the Soviet Army stationed there
until 1955, but got back its original one like public places in our
country, when the occupying forces went out. Well there is another
detail with this bridge, independent from Russians: in the '70s,
during renovation work, the bridge collapsed. Today no trace of it.
Before we left town upriver, we sailed under three other bridges,
56
Danube
then we met the first such part of our trip, where towing was really a
hard job. The speed of current neared six miles per hour, no ac-
cident that we were towing only four barges.
In Vienna no tug has had anything to do. Even to get an instruct-
ion from company headquarters has not needed to go into the local
office, the on-board radio has been a good means to receive any
message. But as the commander was only a human being, too, he
also had his private channels.
At Vienna the current was already quick, the towage was creep-
ing upriver slowly. Soon over Vienna the tamed section began.
About two hours in route upriver from Vienna we sighted on the right
side the Korneuburg shipyard where the most beautiful passenger
ships on the Danube of that time were built, and also the push-boat
series taken over for further manufacturing somewhat later by our
Obuda shipyard. The landscape was indescribably fine, like our
country's western part, hilly, and pretty houses on both banks.
Everything was to be seen well, as the river was at most a thousand
feet wide. A railway bridge was left behind, then another two the
next day, after that we arrived at Krems. There followed Dürnstein, a
tiny town on top of a high cliff. About this I have something to tell
later. About ten hours of slow motion, and we passed a long island,
over which and the channel we could see the building of the Melk
Abbey. Another twelve miles and I caught a glimpse of the first
sluice in my life. It was the one at Ybbs-Persenbeug. As we were
waiting for coming into the sluice, we could admire the swans on the
left bank. We passed the lowest lock and were travelling in a country
very much similar to that on the Rhine. On both banks there were
small villages or towns in picturesque surroundings. To travel that
time in our country meant seeing a disorderly, dull landscape. I have
been much surprised by this neat fine-looking countryside. The
second lock had been built at the castle of Otto Habsburg. That time
he was in exile, even in his home country he has not been welcome.
Further up, over the town of Linz, we have reached the hardest
section on the upper Danube. As the dam planned here has only
been in construction, the current has been unaltered in speed. The
57
Canned roaddust
tug has not been able to tow up all her barges in one step, the six
barges could only be taken up in three packages.
Locking remained interesting for me also later, and first time I
observed every detail attentively. Being off-watch made it simpler
for me. At the upper level the mirror-like surface of the reservoir has
been wide and reached to the horizon. This sight was waiting for me
when we came up. The filling of the lock chamber ended, the gate
opened and the boat slowly steamed out. At the other side of the
dam (about 50 feet lower) the river remained as it had been before
the building of the dam. Neither water level nor the speed of the
current changed, as the flow of the river must have been let through
the gaps and the turbines. Arriving at the lower level the boat passes
into one of the two locks, their sizes can house the boat and two
barges. A bigger towage must be divided and sluiced through in
more packages. The gate is closed and water is let into the chamber
from the upper level through openings until the water level in the
chamber is equal to that of the reservoir. Then the other gate opens
and the road is free upriver. Boats arriving from above are proces-
sed in the opposite way.
The lock and water power station (hydro-power dam) is actually
a dam built in transverse direction to the riverbed that has three
main functions. The most conspicuous and primary role for ages is
the improvement of the shipping route by creating a deep-water
reservoir lake above the dam. The other function is to connect the
lower and upper levels by means of lock chambers. Generally two
chambers are built together along one bank. And the third, but not
least important function is energy generation utilising the potential
of difference between the two water levels. Besides, there are two
auxiliary roles that go without saying. First, to ensure the original
water-flow below the dam by controllable gates that are almost
closed at low water level and then only the turbines will let through
any water, in this case the water-flow is reduced and the difference
between the two levels is large. When the river is high, the gates are
widely open to let through the bigger flow at the naturally much
smaller difference between upper and lower level. The second
58
Danube
auxiliary function is the creation of a reservoir, from which industrial
and communal water demand can be fulfilled.
Somewhere above the Ybbs lock we have reached the section
that was the reason why the dam had been built. That was the
Struden. Here shipping possibilities were retained only by such
measures as on the Lower Danube. In order to overcome this steep
section, another dam had been necessary to raise at Kachlet direct-
ly below the Struden. As the reservoir above this dam had also
flooded several smaller difficult places, it was easy for us to get to
Linz. The country offered wonderful sights, with perhaps Wallsee as
the most interesting one, some of the boatmen stated that it reminds
you to the Rhine valley at the cliff. On the right we could see other
attractions too, also the Mauthausen camp was in the same con-
dition as it was deserted at the end of the war. We went under some
bridges, then reached Linz. One of the barges was addressed here,
so the towage was let drop anchors, and the barge was taken into
the harbour.
For the passengers of a boat in upriver direction the most pictur-
esque country along the Upper Danube starts here, the river is just
leaving the Passau-Linz alpine section. The steep forested mount-
ain sides come down to the riverbank, only some narrow valleys of
side-streams can reach the river. At such places there usually is a
small settlement, although they are not exactly the finest places for
human life, as these canyons lead the snow-melt into the Danube,
or even they serve as the inflow of a smaller side-stream, and this is
equal to the danger of flood in the spring. People in this country are
very hard, they live on anything, for this reason such small villages
you can find not only in those canyons, but almost everywhere. One
thing is sure: there is no village without a pub and a church. Well, the
Aschach dam has been built to improve the shipping possibilities
along this sixty miles long section. When I was there first time, the
riverbank was being reinforced by square stones.
There was a funny event one evening near the dam in con-
struction. The tug let the barges drop anchor and did the same her-
59
Canned roaddust
self at the village of Schloegen. Those little settlements of Upper
Austria have always consisted of a church, a mayor's office, a shop
and a pub beside the half dozen houses making up the village.
I had remained on board, but the majority of officers, the crew
and the galley hands went to shore. The fine beer had its effect, as,
when our people joined the locals in dance, and the partner of the
cook was too impressed to recognise a fellow-mariner, he said:
“What does this ,Ambassador of Shragen' want from our girls?”
He wanted to say “this stone-layer from Schloegen” and in our
language they are almost similar in pronunciation. From that time
on the man, who asked the cook to dance with him that evening, has
been called the Ambassador of Shragen.
Somewhere before I have mentioned already that shortage of
goods had been a usual phenomenon in our country that time. That
shortage had made the prices of sophisticated manufactured goods
higher than sensible. For this reason people having jobs on inter-
national transport means as mariners, rail-roaders, truck drivers,
etc. had always joined the very old trade of illegal import, or call it
smuggling. Of course, customs authorities knew that this activity
cannot be annihilated and tried to regulate it.
All the employees of international transport companies register-
ed in our country had special service passports and they were al-
lowed to import a limited quantity of wares. They had their “Import
Booklets” and so, they could take with them home the gifts, food,
technical equipment they bought on their allowance.
Behind these goods in the booklet, there has always been a
much bigger quantity hidden in proper caches that has not been for
declaration. The customs authorities have had their informers a-
mong crews -- mainly people whose fate on being caught would
have been sudden debarkation, unless they undertook the role of
informer -- and it would have been dangerous to hide things with the
knowledge of anybody on the boat. Trust in each other is one thing,
business is another.
60
Danube
The main source for purchasing goods has been a certain
woman living in the southern outskirts of Vienna. Her name was
Frau Molnár, she left our country in 1956 and had been living there
to become the most important factor in our mariners' trade. We
could not only get every kind of goods, but she took on her the risky
business of currency change. The rate of change has been coded: it
was said Frau M. was so and so many years old, it meant, she was
giving so and so many Schillings for one hundred Forints. She has
been a good saleswoman. Beer was always cheaper with her than
with her competitors. Of course, she lost some money on people,
who bought little beside beer, but she had her customers and
prospered.
To get goods of unique properties, especially technical ones,
you had to discuss every aspects with her, and on the return trip you
could pick it up. But such cases have been rare, the bulk of her sales
consisted of fashionable items.
There were three of them that days: nylon scarves, feathe-rlight
impregnated raincoats and wrist-watches. The last one was the
most risky business. Watches could be of different quality and they
looked alike. Mariners have not been experts to choose the right
ones. If you wanted to take a good-quality watch, you would have to
avoid buying it from Frau M. But ordinary watches, dubbed “kilo
watches” -- they were sold by weight, not piece --, you could buy at
her as there was no way of being caught by the end-consumer.
Even if you sold it to somebody who knew you, there were enough
spare ones to replace it.
For me joining this trade has been out of question: I had no
capital to change at any rate of Frau M.'s age. I had a good watch of
Russian make and did not need any. But of the scarves I took a
dozen -- not a hundred dozens as others --, among my relatives
there were women. And I tried to get my rain-coat, only I did not find
the proper size. It had to wait for me a year more. The centre of the
city I could not see in Vienna. It, too, had to wait for one year. But
from the river I have not only seen the beautiful embankments, I
61
Canned roaddust
have made many shots by my small Russian camera.
My friend Z. has had access to his father's photographic
laboratory and he made me possible to do the magnifications, as
well as the chemical developing.
Beside the dam being built at Aschach there was another lock
between Linz and Passau. It was at Engelhartszell, after over-
coming that one we reached Passau in a short time. We had our
hands full, but the beautiful sight was worth it. That 65-mile section
will have become tamed by the Aschach dam with a difference of 55
feet between the upper and lower water levels. The next year I saw
it many times on another tug. Above this hard section we were
sluiced through the lock at Passau, the most beautiful town on the
upper Danube. Two side-streams are running into the river, the one
on the right bank is the Inn, the river of Innsbruck.
There are a multitude of bridges on all the three streams, the
finest one spanning over the Danube. On the right side it has an
ordinary head, but on the left the flow of vehicles is disappearing in a
tunnel through the hill coming to the water's edge. The cables are
fixed high in the cliffs of the hill. At this town on the left bank below
the bridge the Austria-Germany border comes to the river and
upwards the frontier is made by the centre-line of the navigational
route. On the hillside, although its inclination was high, I saw a
tractor collect hay puff-puffing along parallel to the river. Those
Germans, they are really diligent people.
After another fifteen miles the river became wholly a German
one. We have entered a section, where on both sides the banks
have been low and to the horizon there were no hills. Depth in the
navigational route has only been enough to slip through the
constantly maintained shipping canal. The whole river-bed has not
been wider than 300 feet. Regulation of the river has had a tradition
for already many centuries. Only by dredging all the time and by
transversal levees limiting the width of actual current was it possible
to maintain navigation even at low level. Delivery of water is im-
62
Danube
proved by some tributaries, e.g. the Isar, the river of Munich on the
right side at Deggendorf, but in the summer season water in the
Danube is very low here.
Somewhere here there occurred an encounter that almost led
to a crash. We avoided accident only by miracle. We were creeping
upriver at a pace less than 3 miles per hour. For the narrow bed and
the limited depth the engines were regulated to less than half power.
The river was making sharp curves. Suddenly in one of these
bends, from the cover of the bank, there appeared a tug with her
towage coming down-river.
I could see all well, I was off duty and the fine weather attracted
me up to the boat-deck. When we became aware of the towage
coming on us, the distance between the two tugs has not been more
than 200 feet. All that the men at the wheels of both boats could do
was to steer them as far to the right as possible. Everybody was
expecting a big crash, but it did not come. A few inches between us
and the near-most barge of the down-river towage, it was all. And
the relative speed of the two units was about 15 miles per hour. At
the rear it carried a Yugoslav flag.
The last thing we saw of the other towage was the turbaned man
at the deserted wheel of the left rearmost barge: he was repeating
the sign of cross on himself. A real puzzle: the turban indicated a
Muslim, he could have been somebody from Bosnia, throwing the
cross on himself the impression of a Christian. Who could he have
been?
For a day this event has been discussed many times. It was real
miracle, a crash -- called by our mariners “havarie” by the French
word -- could have led to the loss of a barge at least, or the tug, even
lives. During the year I have spent on ships I have never been near-
er a catastrophe.
About halfway between Passau and our goal, Regensburg,
there is a small town, Straubing. There the river flows through be-
tween two hills and, as on the road, the river-boats can only pass
63
Canned roaddust
when the traffic-light is green. Otherwise such a system you can find
only at locks. At the town of Straubing the river is 300 feet at most, a
Hungarian feels as if he were on the Upper Tisza river at home. The
current meanders in the classic way, there are sharp turns, some-
times only ten to fifteen feet remain between the side of the boat and
the riverbank. You see events on both banks clearly. Once I saw a
man in an original Bavarian Lederhosen (leather shorts) step out of
a free-standing peasant house not far from the river, go to a barn,
then I heard the noise of a tractor and saw the vehicle come out and
go to the other side of the meadow. In our country the co-operatives
were queuing up at the so-called machine-stations (state leasing
stocks) to get agricultural machines. Well, passing through that
bottleneck you will have a free route to Regensburg.
Before reaching the town to the left you see the wintering
harbour and on the other side, just below that, a small hill crowned
by a neo-classical collonnade. It is the Walhalla, exhibition place of
all the great Germans.
The river is only 150 to 200 feet wide here. The entrance to the
harbour on the right bank is even less. For long-distance tugs it is
not advisable to take their barges into the harbour. There are small
boxers that can do the arrangement much better. We have left our
barges at the harbour entrance and have floated to the town with the
tug. She was laid on the pontoon.
Between that and the harbour we passed the old port that is
making an isle opposite the pontoon. There are several bridges built
in the town. The river at that point -- 2379 kms from the sea -- is an
unimportant stream with a bed not wider than 200 feet between its
embankments. On the left side of the main channel the town looked
rather industrial, but on our laying side orderly-looking high-rise
living houses stood side-by-side. When I had the opportunity to look
around a little later, the right bank I liked very much. Especially the
cathedral attracted me. At the same time, I have pleasant recollect-
ions also about the neat small shops and the jovial pubs. People
were thinking there and then similarly -- not mentioned the differ-
64
Danube
ence that they were Germans and we are Hungarians, a cultural
difference in itself -- what I experienced at home later at the turn of
the '80s and '90s. Today, with the Rhine-Main-Danube canal in
operation, the traffic of boats is much bigger. When I first saw it in
April 1963 it was almost empty of ships but three: our tug, another
one of ours and a Soviet one. It was the