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Paddle Steamers past and present
EGYPT
: Side-wheelers
This page includes operational, statically preserved and
laid-up steamers.
Click
here for : Egypt - Stern and Quarter-wheelers
The
River Nile, lifeblood of Egyptian civilisations throughout the
millenia, can still count paddle steamers amongst the numerous
vessels plying its waters.
The river has attracted tourists for many years and Nile cruises take
visitors to some of the greatest archaelogical remains on the earth.
British tourists in the 19th
century were the driving force for the construction of paddle steamers. In 1869,
28 years after organising his first escorted outing to nearby Loughborough in
the English midlands, Leicester-based Thomas Cook, had hired two paddlers for
his tours of the Nile. They went on to built their own hotels and had a virtual
monopoly over the tourist trade in the area. After 1885 they really began to
expand their own fleet and for the 1896 season, the Anglo-American Nile Navigation
Company entered competition as tourists from the USA became particularly numerous.
In the winter of 1905/06 Anglo-American was taken over by the German-owned Hamburg-American
Company along with their steamers Puritan and Mayflower and four others, whilst
a new American concern, the Express Nile Navigation Company entered the market
with their new steamers Virginian and America. The Hamburg company also put
two new steamers on order for introduction the following season as competition
really began to heat up - just as it had done, for example, on the Firth of Clyde
only a few years earlier.
There are very few sources of information
which makes it difficult to give precise information about the exact date of
construction or indeed the actual builders of the paddle steamers still in existence
in Egypt and old records appear to have been lost. The vessels themselves have
been considerable altered over time, although most have their old machinery
virtually untouched. In one case the engineer's plate displayed clearly does
not relate to the original engine and has been a later addition !
Steamers
tend to be run by tour operating companies on long-term charter from their owners,
so sometimes it is unclear who actually owns them and who markets them each
season - and of course travel agents in many cases arrange cruise holidays on
their own account in association with the lead operator.
Thomas Cook really began to develop their fleet after 1885
and two (possibly three) side-wheel paddle steamers from their fleet remain :
SUDAN
Most websites regard this paddle steamer
as built shortly after 1885 as per the history on the SS Sudan website and most
reporters have used this information for their work . However, the Clydebuilt website, a very
authoritative source for all Clyde-built ships, lists SS Sudan as having been
built by Bow, McLachlan at Paisley, Scotland in 1921 and this is more likely
to be the case.
Cook's ships would have been supplied in parts and reassembled
on the Nile, probably at Bulak.
Out of service for
many years, she was chosen by two enterprising entrepreneurs for restoration
and returned to service in 2001. Sailing between Luxor and Aswan, she has 18 cabins on the upper deck and 5 suites on the main deck forward.
Engines
: Triple Expansion (17, 26 and 43 inches x 48 inches stroke). She
has been given auxiliary diesel propulsion (Caterpillar 3408 unit / Aquamaster
azimuthal propellor) at the
stern and an electric bow thruster, especially useful for short movements when idle at Luxor or Aswan.
|
|
Has
been owned by Seti First Cruises but no longer appears to be so - and the vessel
now has its own website : Website
|
Above : Sudan in January 2008. Photo by Mr
Michael Gwyther-Jones
displayed under the Creative
Commons 2.0 terms for use as approved by the photographer when displayed
on the Flickr photosharing website. Original
source URL. Not to be further copied unless terms on the CC 2.0 are complied
with. Many thanks Mr Gwyther-Jones for making your photo available. |
MEMNON
was possibly built in the first decade of
the 20th century.
Appears to be in the fleet of Seti First Cruises by as
at Jan 2009 their website is showing her as out of service for refurbishment.
It is believed that she will return to service either in 2010 or possibly 2011.
Seti
First Cruises website (for PS Memnon)
PS DELTA
is laid up pending its fate (and is listed
on the Laid up / Statically preserved list)
One paddler is still operational but has been
moved to Cairo and decked out as a Chinese Restaurant
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TIME MACHINE - ex-Mahasen and now Nile Peking
Understood
to have been built in 1906, she no longer offers the long run to
Aswan and is now based in Cairo, tied up for much of the time as a
Chinese Restaurant named "Nile Peking", but offering regular dinner
cruises. She appears to be heavily rebuilt, with large ports
replacing her cabin windows and with two Chinese-style buildings
featuring red tiled roofs on her upper deck.
Right : Time Machine in 1996. Photo kindly supplied by Trevor Batchelor
Click here for more
photos by Trevor Batchelor
PS
Nile Peking (ex-Time Machine, ex-Mahasen) website
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OTHER EXTERNAL WEBSITE LINKS
For more about the Nile's magnificent tourist attractions
and wonderful history, please visit the Luxor
On-Line website
where there is also report
about and pictures of Nile paddlers and a historical review by Alan Dumelow
on this
link
Return
to
Laid-up /
Statically Preserved steamers
outside Europe (for laid-up side wheelers and those converted for new non-operational
uses)
Egypt - Stern and Quarter-wheelers
Paddle
Steamer List