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SS Rusinga

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History
NameSS Rusinga
NamesakeRusinga Island in Lake Victoria
OperatorUganda Railway 1913-29; Kenya and Uganda Railways and Harbours1929-48; East African Railways and Harbours Corporation 1948-66
Port of registry Kenya Kisumu
BuilderBow, McLachlan & Co,[1] Paisley, Scotland
Yard number283[1]
Launched1913[1]
In service1914[1]
Statusin service 2005[2]
General characteristics
Typetroop ship, then passenger & cargo ship[1]
Tonnage1,300 tons displacement[1]
Length220 feet (67 m)[1]
Beam35 feet (11 m)[1]
Installed powertwo 400 hp triple expansion engines[1]
Propulsionscrew[1]

SS Rusinga is a cargo and passenger Lake Victoria ferry in East Africa.

Bow, McLachlan and Company of Paisley in Renfrewshire, Scotland built her and her sister ship SS Usoga for the Uganda Railway in 1913.[1] They were "knock down" vessels; that is, they were 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.

Rusinga entered service on the lake in 1914 and was a troop ship during the First World War East African Campaign.[1] After the Armistice she entered civilian service as a Lake Victoria ferry. In 1966 the East African Railways and Harbours Corporation withdrew her for scrap[3] but she passed into private ownership and in 2005 was still in service.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Cameron, Stuart; Asprey, David. "SS Rusinga". Clyde-built Database. Retrieved 2011-05-22.
  2. ^ a b Rustomji, Kersi. "17 Usoga and Rusinga". Jambo Paulo... Jambo Mykol... Kersi Rustomji. Retrieved 2011-05-22.
  3. ^ "Gazette Notice No 3265; East Africa Railways & Harbours; Amendments to Tariff Book No 3". Kenya Gazette. Vol. LXVIII. 1966-08-30. Retrieved 2011-05-18.