OLD IS GOLD: The 1941 Mombasa District Soccer League champions, Feisal Football Club pose for a group photo. Standing [from left] Babu Lalji, Salim Antar, Salim âTumboâ, Zeida Awadh, Baates and Amilo Juma. Centre row: Kibwana âWembleyâ, Mohamed Mbarak, Sheikh Mohamed Ali Said Mandry, Sheikh Mahfoudh Mackawy (Patron), Said Khamis âKibiritiâ and Mdenge. Front row: Abdulqadir AntarâImuâ, Maalim Abbas, Ahmed âAl-Qumryâ, Hyder âMadagascarâ and Shebe Abushiri.
PHOTO COURTESY OF HASSAN ALLUI SHERIFF, Coastweek.
This photograph shows the Sybil being launched in 1904 into Lake Victoria at Kisumu.
S Sybil was a cargo and passenger Lake Victoria ferry in East Africa.
The Uganda Railway had begun shipping operations on the lake in 1901 with the launch of the 110 ton SS William Mackinnon, built by Bow, McLachlan and Company of Paisley in Renfrewshire, Scotland. She was a small general purpose vessel but thecompany wished to establish more substantial ferry operations. Accordingly, even before William Mackinnon was launched the company ordered the much larger Winifred and Sybil from the same builder.
Bow, McLachlan built Sybil and her sister ship SS Winifred in 1901. They were âknock downâ vessels; that is, each 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 Kenya for reassembly. Sybil was launched on the lake in 1904.
In the First World War East African Campaign Winifred and Sybil were armed as gunboats but in 1914 Sybil struck a rock and had to be beached. She was refloated in 1915 and refitted and returned to service in 1916.
After the Armistice Winifred and Sybil returned to civilian service. By now the company had three larger ferries: the 1,134 ton SS Clement Hill (1907) and 1,300 ton sister ships SS Rusinga and SS Usoga (both 1913). These younger ships therefore worked the busiest routes. In 1924 Sybil was stripped of her engine and accommodation and converted into a lighter.
In the 1950s Sybil sank at her moorings but she was raised, restored as a passenger and cargo vessel and in 1956 re-entered service. In 1967 the East African Railways and Harbours Corporation scuttled her at Kisumu to form a breakwater.
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cc @Deorro@introvert
This 1907 photograph shows the launching of SS Nyanza at Kisumu. Initially, the ship refused to move down the slipway. It eventually launched herself when the guests had all gone to lunch!
Bow, McLachlan and Company of Paisley in Renfrewshire, Scotland built SS Nyanza in 1907 for the Uganda Railway. She was a âknock downâ 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 Kenya for reassembly.
Ownership of Nyanza passed from the Uganda Railway to its successors Kenya and Uganda Railways and Harbours in 1929 and the East African Railways and Harbours Corporation in 1948. In 2002 she was owned by a private company, Delship Ltd, that planned to convert her into a motor vessel. As of 2017, Nyanza was still laid up at Kisumu, along with fleetmate SS Usoga.
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This 1899 photograph shows the âVice-Admiralâ being assembled on the shores of Lake Victoria. It was used by Commander Whitehouse for marine survey work around the lake.
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