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Side-Wheeled Paddle SteamersSTATICALLY
PRESERVED PADDLE STEAMERS : OUTSIDE EUROPE (Side-wheelers)
Egypt
Paddler in static operation as a restaurant
Le Pacha (1901)
According to legend, a wealthy Egyptian Pacha decided to build
his own floating retirement palace on the Nile but died in
1901 before he could fulfil his dream of living aboard in some luxury. The boat
fell into disrepair and lay partially sunken for a long period of time until
discovered, identified, refurbished and modernised for reopening in 1992 by
Johnny Zahra, a well know businessman in the Cairo hospitality scene. It is
now a five-star entertainment centre with a range of restaurants and function
rooms and has won may international awards for the standard of its cuisine.
Clearly it is far removed from the original form with two decks added during
its modern reconstruction. It is moored on the Nile at Gezira Island at Cairo at Saray El-Geriza St.
Along with the river gunboat "Melik", the paddle steamer "Bordein"
was used for military of the British Army. Both ships survive and are under
the protection of the Melik Society (website).
The Bordein (see web
page) was built by Samuda in Poplar (London) in around 1865 with
machinery by J Penn of Greenwich. Shipped out in sections she was re-assembled
at Bulaq and had a varied history, being involved in numerous military activities.
She hit rocks and was incapacitated in 1884 but recoved by the local Mahdist
government for their own service. In 1898 she was captured by the British Army
and served until withdrawal in 1906. She was restored to her mid 1880s condition
in 1930 and later became a tourist attraction. She is now in a totally derelict
condition at Khartoum North dockyard bereft of machinery and boiler.
Jan
2011 : News has appeared to indicate that Bordein is being restored as a potential
tourist attraction. The ship was found in twelve separate pieces north of Khartoum
and has now been reassembled and moved to Omdurman with the support of the Melik
Society. Report and photos on the Melik Society website : http://www.melik.org.uk/2011/01/sudan-taps-empire-memories-to-tempt-back-britons/
United States of AmericaIn
static operation as museum shipsTiconderoga (1906) Shelburne, VT
Lake Champlain sidewheeler now landlocked at the
nearby Shelburne Museum, having been moved overland in 1954. between 1951 and
1954 she had been operated by preservationists.
Double-ended wooden-hulled paddle ferry, built in 1890 (and rebuilt in 1923)
and with original walking-beam steam engine. Preserved at the San Francisco
National Maritime Historical Park Website Capt Meriwether Lewis (1932) Brownsville, NE
A dustpan dredge built by the Marietta Manufacturing Co at Point
Pleasant, WV and 268 ft long. Now exhibited on a dry berth at Brownsville
owned by the Meriwether Lewis Foundation.William M Black (1934) Dubuque, Iowa
277 ft long dredge built by the Marietta Manufacturing Co at
Point Pleasant, WV and now a floating museum owned by the Dubuque County
Historical Society
In private ownership and open as an entertainment venue
William
S Mitchell Newport, KY
Former US Army Corps of Engineers dredger built in 1934 now in private ownership and
open as a "Haunted Ship" attraction called "USS Nightmare"
at Newport, Kentucky (opposite Cincinnati, Ohio).
Built
as Ferry Co No 2 for service at Portland before being moved for San
Francisco in 1898 and being renamed Vallejo. Withdrawn in 1948 but
saved from the scrapyard by three artists who bought the ship for use
as a studio and houseboat. Most of the machinery remains in situ.
Sausalito serves as the clubhouse for the Sportsmen Yacht Club
at Antioch and is moored in a harbour off the San Joaquin river.
She has been here since 1934, soon after retirement. She was built
in 1894 by the Fulton Ironworks in San Francisco for the North Pacific
Railroad Company and carried railway wagons amongst others from
San Francisco to Sausalito . She was involved in the worst
ferry disaster in San Francisco bay in 1901 when she rammed and
sank the ferry San Rafael near Alcatraz island with the loss of
three lives. Her engines have been removed
The
British were well known for their involvement in the construction of the railway
system in Argentina, and their shipyards also supplied ferries to work in association
with the railways. A&J Inglis, whose yard was at Pointhouse, Glasgow and
is well known for being the builders of the famous surviving paddle steamer
Waverley, built a number of train ferries for Argentina, including two paddlers
for the Entre-Rios Company, which operated until 1990. These ships linked Argentina
and Paraguay across the Parana river at Posadas/Encarnacion and served together
from 18th October 1913 until 8th March 1990 when a railway bridge was opened.
They still exist although laid up near Posadas. President Roque Saenz Pena
is in the better condition and in recent years but local railway enthusiasts
have adopted it and made it into a small railway museum, open since 2002. It
has also been used for entertainment functions. In 2003, the two ferries were
declared National Historic Monuments, and are now unique survivors, being train
ferries. Whilst much of the engine and boilers remain, valuable brass has
been stripped out
BRAZIL
Blumenau (1895)
28 metres x 4.4 metres.
Built in Dresden, Germany but assembled in Itajai, Brazil, for the
Itajai-Blumenau Steam Navigation Company sailing between the two
settlements for which the company was named as "Vapor Blumenau"
ie Blumenau Steam. Sailed until the 1950s and then preserved as
a public attraction with a historical display concerning local river
navigation. A refurbishment in 2002 sought to return her to approximate
her original design. The boilers and engine remain intact.
Saldanha Morinho
Side wheeler built in the USA and sailed on the Mississippi before being
transferred to the Brazilian Amazon basin. Served on the Velhas River (a
tributary of the Sao Francisco) and also sailed on the latter based at the city
of Sao Francisco and later at Pirapora Preserved at Petrolina (Juazeiro)
alongside the Sao Francisco river PARAGUAYAlhambay
The
remains of a Brazilian naval vessel, captured by the Paraguayans in
1865 is displayed along with other old vessels on dry land at the Vapor
Cue National Park at Caragutay which also acts as a memorial to naval
war dead. Although in deteriorating condition, her hull is intact and
the main elements of her two oscillating cylinders and crankshaft
remain. Her paddles are also attached to the side of the hull and a
tall narrow funnel survives. AUSTRALIAMaid of Sker
Maid
of Sker was built in 1884 by JW Sutton at Kangaroo Point, Brisbane. She
moved to the Gold Coast in 1893 and sailed on the Nerang River between
Nerang and Brisbane until 1930. Its hull was given to the Gold Coast
City Council in 1984 and towed from Brisbane to her new home, Bischof
Pioneer Park in Nerang, where she was exhibited on land in 1986. In 2015 she
was at risk of scrapping due to severe deterioration, but
the council agreed a funding package to save the ship
Gem
Built in 1876, Gem was purchased
by the Pioneer Settlement in 1962 and towed by Oscar W from Mildura.
Her boiler and engine had been removed in 1956. Under reconstruction
but available for inspection at The Swan Hill Pioneer Settlement attraction
Hobby
paddle steamer Jumna was inspired by the British harbour tug of the
same name which operated out of Littlehampton, Sussex, UK. It was built
by Sussex emigre the Rev R E Davies. Built in 1939, she operated
privately until the 1960s before being put on display at the Old Butter
Factory Museum in Busselton, WA. Return to Statically preserved Paddle Steamers Homepage
