S/S Lokki

Tarina

In 1913, the Kasurila steamboat company acquired a new ship called “Lokki” from Varkaus, which was registered for 125 passengers, and which it placed on the route Kuopio – Siilinjärvi – Pajukoski. However, after three years, the seagull was sold to Itä-Kuopio Höyryvenhe Oy for FIM 140,000. Itä-Kuopion Höyryvenhe Oy was founded by P. Hiekkala, Olli Heikkinen and Taavetti Räsänen in 1916 after noticing that the ships were successful on the Kuopio-Riistavesi route. The ship may have undergone some modifications, as it was now announced that it would be able to take 150 passengers, in addition to which it had 75 berths. In addition, it had four salons and a dining room. The ship’s route was initially Kuopio-Melalahti, but it was soon extended to Riistavesi.

During its professional traffic, the seagull was part of the Kuopio commuter traffic picture, the traffic started in the spring as soon as the ice left and continued until late autumn. In addition to the passengers, the ship transported the peasants’ products to Kuopio Market Square: Horses, cows and sheep traveled on the bow deck, some to their pastures and others to be slaughtered. The gentleman sat in the upper salon, the common people on the middle deck and under the stern deck in the so-called “roihalah” sniffing the cradles, burning the paper box and telling the most daring stuff. The ship was thus quite literally a “three-story crowd”. Phenomena of the time were also associated with the ship’s separate tobacco and women’s salons.

Matti Koponen, who became the coxswain in Lokk in 1967, tells about the ship’s voyages as follows: “Suarta was twisted two times a day. … At that time it was still no traffic, the land was being driven from the sea. In the morning the moon was sent for a couple of hours of jogging and in the afternoon to half past one, empty milk pegs were taken from behind. And of course we have passengers, we have a villa crowd and Sikoniemes still has a settlement. ” “Suare” Koponen means Vaajasalo, which Lokki and later other cruise ships of Roll ships have been touring (K2005). Koponen moved to another ship in 1969, but returned to Lokkki as a skipper in 1982. Lokki had now switched to cruising, but the most common route was still the familiar Vaajasalo tour. “Kolome says the day was twisted. In the summer, we have 10,000 people. The ship was in good condition and I tried to keep it like that. It’s a good ship for that traffic, but for a cruise ship it’s not a good fit, it’s so sweaty. It contains 85 liters of oil per hour.

Professional transport work at Loki ended in 1971 when Pohjois-Kallavesi steamship Oy sold it to Auto-Prima R.W. To Stellberg (later Roll Cruises), which began making cruises with it instead of scheduled traffic. At the same time, its log heating was abandoned. Kuopio remained the ship’s home port. The seagull sank in 1997 at Laitaatsilla in connection with the winter rehabilitation. On roll-cruises, the goal was to rehabilitate the ship again, but no money for the project was found. The ship was left standing at Laitaats and its fate to wait quite a long time. While standing, the ship collapsed, and its situation in 2007 was still quite sad. All its wooden parts had been dismantled, the condition of the hull was poor, and some of the decks and arches had to be replaced. At that time it was bought by Parasteam Finland Oy. By the new owner, the hull of the ship was transported in a pallet truck to Billnäs for refurbishment of the bottom. 2010 was followed by the “second phase” of the renovation work, when S / S Armas towed the Loki hull to Hietalahti, Helsinki, where the renovation work continued. The ship returned to traffic in excellent condition in 2014, and has since sailed all the way abroad, with Helsinki as its home port.