African Queen (boat) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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African Queen
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The African Queen under a canvas canopy in 2009
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 Location in Florida
Location in the United States
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| Location | Key Largo, Florida |
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| Built | 1912 & 1950 |
| Architect | Lytham Shipbuilding & Engineering Co |
| NRHP reference No. | 91001771 |
| Added to NRHP | February 18, 1992 |
The African Queen is the name of two famous boats. They were used in the 1951 movie The African Queen. This movie starred Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn. The film was shot in two different places in Africa. One part was filmed in the Belgian Congo on a river that flows into the Congo River. The other part was filmed on the Nile river in Murchison Falls National Park in Uganda.
Because of the two filming locations, two different boats were used. One of these boats is now in Key Largo, Florida. It was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on February 18, 1992. The other boat is located in Jinja, Uganda.
Contents
The African Queen Boats: A Movie Story
The African Queen boats have an interesting history. They were both used to create the famous movie. Let's learn about each boat.
The Congo Boat: A Long History
This African Queen boat is a 30-foot steam boat. It was built in 1912 in the United Kingdom. It was made of strong metal sheets joined together. The boat was built for use in Africa. It worked on the Victoria Nile and Lake Albert. These are the areas where the movie was filmed in 1950.
The boat was first named Livingstone. It was built for the British East Africa Railway. It was used from 1912 until 1968. For about 50 years, it mostly operated on the Ruki River. This river is in the northern Democratic Republic of Congo. The boat carried people like hunters and also cargo.
Records show that Lytham Shipbuilding and Engineering Co. built this boat. This information comes from the boiler plate and records in Lancashire.
The boat was found in Cairo, Egypt, in the 1970s. It still had coal in its bottom section. It was bought and sent to the United States. Since then, it has had several owners. It is now held in a special trust. In 2012, it was fixed up. Workers put in a new steel frame inside and a new boiler. Now, it is used for tourist trips.
The Nile Boat: Found and Restored
The second African Queen boat was built in 1950. It was made specifically for the movie. A mechanical engineer named Yank Evans found it in 1984. He was working on roads in Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda. He found what was left of the boat in the bushes.
"Yank found a metal boat that was just left to rot," said a source. "He asked local people what it was. They told him it was the African Queen. So he bought it from the National Parks for $1." Evans and his son Billy worked on the boat. They gave it a steam engine. When Evans moved to Kenya in 1997, he stored the boat. Its new home was a trailer in his garden.
Cam McLeay, who is from New Zealand, bought the Nile African Queen. He had lived in Uganda for ten years. He heard the boat's story and decided to finish fixing it. He wanted to get the boat's original steam engine working again.
McLeay and his team rebuilt the boat's old Brady steam engine. They also replaced parts of the hull and over 100 pipes. Most parts came from the UK, but some were found in Uganda.
Images for kids
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The African Queen under a canvas canopy in 2009
