Posted on 08/29/2011 11:52:55 AM PDT by Pan_Yan
Ships don't come with much more historical ballast than the MV Liemba. The steamer still shudders and belches its way across Lake Tanganyika every Wednesday and Friday, a century after it was built as a warship in Germany.
In its time it's been a pawn in the colonial scramble for Africa. It's been scuttled and then raised again from the deep. It may have been the model for the warship sunk by The African Queen, a steam-powered launch in the film of the same name, starring Katharine Hepburn as a prim spinster and Humphrey Bogart as the rough captain.
And now it's a ferry on Africa's longest lake, invariably packed with hundreds of people plus their jumble of bundles and baskets as it churns the water between Kigoma in Tanzania across the lake to Mpulungu in Zambia.
But for how long? Such is the ramshackle, dented state of the vessel that the company which runs it has asked the German government to help with refurbishment. The basis of the appeal is that this is a piece of German history. The steamer that serves the citizens around Lake Tanganyika was once the Kaiser's gunboat.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
Ping.
Who’s got the cinema ping list? Interesting tidbit about the ship that may have inspired the African Queen.
So the idiot owners never bothered to put anything aside for maintenance and upkeep?
“May have ...”? Big yawn.
Two words: New Orleans levees.
/Biden
If it is considered worth saving on historical grounds, then the German government would have an interest.
Maybe.
I shelled out a bunch for my dad and myself to fly on a B-17. You would think that they owners might be able to find the same market - pay for upkeep AND provide a historical experience.
“So the idiot owners never bothered to put anything aside for maintenance and upkeep?”
The owners intend to have it refurbished by White Man’s Burden & Co.
Inland Africa is not known for it’s shipyards.
I guess my experience with boats remains correct - they are holes in the water into which you throw time, sweat, and money.
The source article is good, especially where it mentions that the ship was sent there in 500 crates and re-assembled.
You might find this interesting...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_for_Lake_Tanganyika
That part of Africa was better off under German Imperial Control. Unlike England, they treated the black residents well and got a great deal of loyalty from them. The ship is a cool bit of history and should be saved—but then so too the whole nation.
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