SS Robert Coryndon

SS Robert Coryndon in 2009
History
Name: SS Robert Coryndon
Namesake: Sir Robert Coryndon, Governor of Uganda 1918–22
Operator: Kenya and Uganda Railways and Harbours (1930–48); East African Railways and Harbours Corporation (1948–67)
Port of registry:
Route: fortnightly between Butiaba on Lake Albert and Kasenyi on Lake George[1]
Builder: J.I. Thornycroft & Co, Woolston, England
In service: 1930
Fate: sunk 1962
Status: wreck
General characteristics
Type: passenger & cargo ferry
Tonnage: 860 tons[2]
Propulsion: steam engine; screw

SS Robert Coryndon was a British passenger and cargo ferry on Lake Albert in central Africa.

History

John I. Thornycroft & Company at Woolston, Hampshire built her for Kenya and Uganda Railways and Harbours in 1930.[3] She was named after the South African Sir Robert Coryndon, who was Governor of Uganda 1918–22.[4] She was part of a plan for a network of railway, river steamer and lake steamer services linking British interests in Egypt, East Africa and southern Africa. Sir Winston Churchill described the ship as "the best library afloat" and Ernest Hemingway called her "magnificence on water".[4]

Robert Coryndon sank in 1962,[5] around the time of Ugandan independence from Britain.

Fate

Her wreck was offered for sale in 1967 by the East African Railways and Harbours Corporation (EAR&H).[2] However, by 2009 she was still unsalvaged and partly submerged in the lake.[4] By the beginning of 2012 her wreck had been taken away "in bits and pieces by cutting all the metal remains for scrap" and only her aft king posts were still visible above the water.[6]

References

  1. ↑ "General Notice No 197; Kenya and Uganda Railways and Harbours; Steamer Services, Lake Albert". Kenya Gazette. XXXVII (8). 12 February 1935. Retrieved 2011-05-23.
  2. 1 2 "Gazette Notice No 265; East Africa Railways & Harbours". Kenya Gazette. LXVIX (4). 24 January 1967. Retrieved 2011-05-23.
  3. ↑ Couperus, Jitze (6 April 2009). "Jitze Couperus". Biog: The World Biography Project. Retrieved 2011-05-18.
  4. 1 2 3 "Behold, a Dream Unfulfilled". Ugandan Insomniac; Want to sleep, can't sleep. WordPress. 25 March 2009. Retrieved 2011-05-18.
  5. ↑ Briggs, Phillip; Roberts, Andrew (2011). Uganda. Bradt Travel Guides (6th ed.). p. 381.
  6. ↑ Menya, Paul (2012). "Mourning the Coryndon". Retrieved 2012-06-30.

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