The Danuvina alacris has been salvaged!

Rettung der Danuvina alacris: Das FAU-Römerboot wurde wieder zu Wasser gelassen. (Bild: FAU/Boris Dreyer)

FAU’s roman boat returns to Altmühlsee lake, restoration work is planned for the winter months

A feeling of great joy is felt as the truck carrying the Danuvina alacris, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU)’s second Roman boat, arrives at Seezentrum Schlungenhof on the shores of Altmühlsee lake. Several days of uneasy uncertainty and a battle against the sun, dry conditions and low water levels lie behind Prof. Dr. Boris Dreyer and his team of helpers. In the end, they emerged victorious and were able to bring the damaged replica to its home port at Altmühlsee.

Over three weeks passed between its discovery and its return. Weeks during which the ancient historian and head of the Roman boat projects, Prof. Dr. Boris Dreyer, traveled between Croatia and Germany, worked on diplomatic relations, and, with the help of volunteers, the German Armed Forces, and the Croatian Army, prepared the rescue of the FAU replica of a Roman patrol boat along the banks of the Drava River in eastern Croatia.

Save the Danuvina alacris!FAU's Roman boat runs aground in Croatia and must be rescued through a joint effort

Die Danuvina alacris liegt verwaist am Ufer der Drau bei Osijek. (Bild: FAU/Boris Dreyer)

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Salvage operation and arrival at Römerzentrum Altmühlsee

After the initial safety measures and other preparations for rescuing the Danuvina alacris were complete, the moment of truth came on August 25, 2026. The wooden vessel had been lying on dry ground for an uncertain amount of time and was lowered back into the water using sliding blocks made for the purpose and excavators supplied by engineers from the Croatian Army. “We had been spraying the boat with water several times a day for around a week so that the wood swelled again”, reports Boris Dreyer. “The boat still took on water very quickly. It was completely full within one minute, which meant the local fire brigade had to pump all the water out of the boat.” The next day, several boats towed the Danuvina alacris to the nearby harbor of Osijek, where it was lifted out of the water with a large crane onto a trailer by dockworkers. It then started its 1000 kilometer journey back to Altmühlsee lake. Once it had arrived, a team of helpers took the Danuvina back to its boatyard and lifted the 5-tonne vessel from the trailer using a hoist and set it down onto blocks.

Boris Dreyer and his team can now set to work on making the Danuvina shipshape again. “A particularly challenging aspect of the restoration is the twisting of the boat’s hull, which occurred due to the way it was lying on the dry ground”, explains Boris Dreyer. “We will try and straighten this twisting as much as possible and get the boat back to its original shape.” This is what they will do over the winter months, so that the Roman boat can return to the Danube and travel to Bulgaria after its adventures in Croatia.

“I would like to thank the German Embassy in Zagreb, Military Attaché Lieutenant Colonel Burkhard Weber of the German Armed Forces, the Croatian Ministry of Defense and the Croatian Army, and especially the 18 army engineers, without whom we would have been really stuck”, says Boris Dreyer. “The salvage operation of the Danuvina alacris is not only the story of a rescued boat. It is also an example of an unusual piece of collaboration between Germany and Croatia, which worked quickly, unbureaucratically and across many institutions in an emergency.”