The Genève is the oldest steam paddle ship of Leman Lake.

Genève was built in 1896 by Sulzer

Sulzer (manufacturer)

Sulzer Ltd. is a Swiss industrial engineering and manufacturing firm, founded by Salomon Sulzer-Bernet in 1775 and established as Sulzer Brothers Ltd. in 1834 in Winterthur, Switzerland. Today it is a publicly owned company with international subsidiaries...

 for the Compagnie Générale de Navigation sur le lac Léman

Compagnie Générale de Navigation sur le lac Léman

Compagnie Générale de Navigation sur le lac Léman is a public Swiss company operating boats on Lake Geneva connecting towns in both France and Switzerland including Geneva, Vevey, Montreux, Évian-les-Bains and Lausanne....

. She was launched for the Swiss national exhibition in Geneva.

Genève was the theater of the death of Elisabeth of Bavaria

Elisabeth of Bavaria

Elisabeth of Austria was the spouse of Franz Joseph I, and therefore both Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary. She also held the titles of Queen of Bohemia and Croatia, among others...

 on 10 September 1898. The wounded Empress, who had been stabbed, boarded the ship, where her condition was seen to be life-threatening, and Genève turned around to return her to the Hôtel Beau-Rivage, where she died shortly afterwards.

On 3 May 1928, near Pully

Pully

Pully is a municipality in Switzerland in the canton of Vaud, located in the district of Lavaux-Oron.It is one of the eastern suburbs of the city of Lausanne, located on the shores of Lake Geneva and at the foot of the vineyards of Lavaux on the road to Vevey and Montreux.-Prehistory:In 1826 a...

, Genève collided with the Rhône. The left anchor of Genève became entangled into the rigging of the Rhône, breaking her bowsprit and her figurehead, and snapping the top of the fore-mast. A passenger was killed by a falling piece of the fore-mast.

In 1934, Genève went under a refit, where her steam machinery was replaced with diesel engines. She was the first CGN ship to be converted to diesel.

In 1973, Genève was taken out of commission and sold for scrap. The next year, she was purchased by an "Association pour le Bateau Genève" for 75 000 CHF, and moored at Eaux-Vives dock. She ship is now unserviceable, but still afloat.

The name Genève was taken by a CGN swift boat on 31 October 2007.

Sources

• Association pour le Bateau "Genève"
• Association des amis des bateaux à vapeur du Léman (ABVL)
• Jacques Christinat, Bateaux du Léman : deux siècles de navigation, Cabédita, 2003. ISBN 2882950616