SS Kavirondo

SS Kavirondo was a steam tug on Lake Victoria in East Africa.[1] She was named after a local Lake Victoria region and was one of many compact Lake Victoria steamships operated by the Uganda Railway.

History
Name: SS Kavirondo
Namesake: Kavirondo Region
Owner: Uganda Railway
Operator: Uganda Railway
Port of registry: Kisumu, Kenya
Builder: Bow, McLachlan & Co Paisley, Scotland
Launched: 1913
General characteristics
Type: Steam tug
Tonnage: 228 GRT
Length: 100ft
Beam: 21ft

Bow, McLachlan and Company of Paisley in Renfrewshire, Scotland built her as a "knock down" vessel; that is, she was bolted together in the shipyard at Paisley, all the parts marked with numbers, disassembled into many hundreds of parts and transported in kit form by sea to Mombasa, Kenya. The kit was shipped by railway to Kisumu on the shore of Lake Victoria for reassembly and launch in 1913.[2]

In the First World War Kavirondo was armed as a gunboat.[3][4] In 1921 she was still recorded as a functioning vessel based in Kisumu - her telegraph address was recorded as 'Kavirontug'.[5]

Between 22 August 1927 and 19 February 1928 the SS Kavirondo was chartered by Michael Graham on behalf of the British Colonial Office in order to conduct the first ever Fisheries Survey of Lake Victoria. During this time the vessel was used to deploy a wide diversity of fishing gears and to provide transportation for the scientists.[6]

In about 1984, she was laid up at Kisumu and later was used as an accommodation vessel.[7] She later sank alongside, but in 2005 was raised.[7] Her purchasers intended to lengthen and re-engine her for use as a tanker.[7]

References
  1. "The History and Research of the East African Freshwater Fisheries Research Organization from 1946 - 1966" (PDF). Retrieved 11 June 2017.
  2. "Uganda Railway". UGFacts. Retrieved 11 June 2017.
  3. UK, The National Archives. "Folio 305: telegram from The Officer Administering the Government of Uganda to the Secretary of State for the Colonies 18th September 1914". discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk. Retrieved 11 June 2017.
  4. "Stories of the Border Fighting in Africa". The Globe and Sunday Times War Pictorial (Sydney, NSW): 16. 23 January 1915.
  5. "Kenya Gazette". 5 October 1921. Retrieved 11 June 2017.
  6. Graham M. (1929.) The Victoria Nyanza and Its Fisheries: A Report on the Fish Survey of Lake Victoria 1927–1928 and Appendices. London: Crown Agents for the Colonies. 256pp.
  7. Cameron, Stuart; Asprey, David. "SS Kavirondo". Clyde-built Database. Archived from the original on 21 August 2009. Retrieved 22 May 2011.CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)


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