The Goetzen and "The African Queen"

[Hauksbee]

A nice bit of serendipity: since our maps have brought us to German Southwest Africa, suddenly an article pops up about the ship that inspired C.S.Forester's "The African Queen". Contrary to the ending of the Humphrey Bogart movie, the German ship (which I recall was named "Konigin Louisa") was not destroyed and sunk. In fact, she's alive and well, still a working ship to this day. [Hauksbee]

 

The Germans had sailed the ship to the south of Kigoma Bay and, after having her engines thoroughly greased in case there should be need to make use of her again, filled her with concrete and carefully scuttled her on 26 July in a depth of 20 m near the banks of the Katabe Bay.

 

Anglo-Belgian control of Lake Tanganyika was secured by mid-1916, though the war in Africa dragged on for another two years. Most of the men of the naval expedition returned to Britain, where Spicer-Simson was awarded the Distinguished Service Order but was reprimanded for some of his antagonistic behaviour toward his Belgian allies and was not given another command. The Belgians for their part appointed him a Commander of the Order of the Crown, and awarded him the Croix de guerre. The exploits on Lake Tanganyika caught the public imagination, and were adapted by C. S. Forester for his book The African Queen, later made into the film The African Queen, directed by John Huston. A British naval force features in the book, consisting of two motor boats named HMS Amelia and HMS Matilda. The legacy of the Battle for Lake Tanganyika also continues in the survival of Spicer-Simson′s nemesis, the Graf von Götzen. She was raised by the Belgians and towed to Kigoma, but sank at her moorings in a storm. She was raised again by the British in 1921 under their mandate for Tanganyika, where it was found that she was so well preserved by the greasing, that little work needed to be done to repair her. She returned to service on 16 May 1927 under the name Liemba, and still sails Lake Tanganyika.

Edited November 5, 2014 by Hauksbee

[Olham]

Touching to see that this ship is still in service - and that she seems to play such an important role down there.

Like the railways the British built in India - they are still in use; often with the same old trains and wagons.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Liemba

 

Edited November 6, 2014 by Olham

[Hauksbee]

Olham: do you have any idea what the white spots are on the hull? They look to be barnacles, but Lake Tangyanika is fresh water. That opening shot is only shown for a half-second in the film and no mention of the spots. I wonder if there could be a fresh water marine growth on her from being scuttled for so long?

[Olham]

They are placed in horizontal and vertical order - maybe they were fat-sealed rivets?

The photo could have been made before the scuttling?

[Hauksbee]

They are placed in horizontal and vertical order - maybe they were fat-sealed rivets?

I've never heard of fat-sealed riveting. Tried web search. No go. What is it?

[Olham]

Well, you wrote that the Goetzen was greased and then deliberately sunken.

Maybe they had to grease more than just the engines?

 

 

Another explanation would be small sweetwater mussles, which settled at the edges

around rivets. It is too regularly to be bullet holes or anything IMHO.

[Hauksbee]

Well, you wrote that the Goetzen was greased and then deliberately sunken.

Maybe they had to grease more than just the engines? Another explanation would be small sweetwater mussles, which settled at the edges

around rivets. It is too regularly to be bullet holes or anything IMHO.

The text of the article said "after having her engines thoroughly greased..." and she was scuttled before capture. My first thought was that it's some kind of freshwater barnacle-type critter. But each round spot seems to have a dark center. Might it be paint blistering away from the rivet head after being submerged for so long?

[Olham]

Don't think so - it looks too equally IMHO.

In German WIKI it doesn't read "...sealed the engine with grease", but "...sealed the most important parts/spots with grease."

It looks so regularly equal, that I'd say it is human-made.

 

Might as well be they had added new primer around rivets, and what we see is the state before painting the whole ship again?

Edited November 7, 2014 by Olham

[Hauksbee]

Might as well be they had added new primer around rivets, and what we see is the state before painting the whole ship again?

 That could be it. There's scaffolding built up the hull, so work is being done on the outside. And it's rickety-looking. Good enough to hold a paint crew, but not heavy work.