There was an item in the news recently concerning three old sternwheelers that we thought our readers might find interesting. It seems that, back in 1890, nine small paddlers were built for service on the lower Zambesi River in Africa. They were built to carry sugar between the Sena sugar estates and the Mozambique port of Chinde, a distance of some 35 miles. The ships were each 90 feet long and 30 feet wide with a tonnage of 90, and they drew only three feet of water. Passenger accommodations were apparently rather limited but twenty-three deckhands were carried.

Around the beginning of the year, a new railroad line was opened to connect the sugar producing area with the port of Beira, a larger harbour located south of Chinde. This rendered the old sternwheelers obsolete and three of them are now being offered for sale by Salisbury, Rhodesia, salesman Roland Eithr who says he will part with the steamers for approximately $19,600 each. The report stated that parties in the U.S., Switzerland and Germany were all interested in the little steamers which are capable of nine knots. Unfortunately, the report did not include the names of the vessels so we cannot trace anything more of their history. It also did not mention what became of the other six ships,

Our thanks to Bill Bruce and Scotty McCannell for bringing this little bit of interesting news to our attention.

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Reproduced for the Web with the permission of the Toronto Marine Historical Society.