1920s Uganda


1920s East Africa
Travelling by steamer on Victoria Nile, Lake Albert and Albert Nile

Jinja Pier 1926: The ship on the left is either Sybil or Winifred and the one on the right is the Clement Hill - PHOTO A WEATHERHEAD via Jerry Burley

Ex-RAF Fairey III Floatplane G-EBPZ. According to A Weatherhead's caption he took the photograph in October 1927 and the aircraft was named Pelican. But the Civil Registration took effect on 18 January 1927 It was apparently owned by the Air Council and leased to North Sea Aerial & General Transport Ltd. It was written off at Kisumu on 12 March 1927 when one float sheared off causing the aircraft to to sink. The pilot and crew survived and the registration was cancelled on 30 April 1927 due to "destruction or permanent withdrawal from use of aircraft". The plan apparently had been to fly from Kisumu to Khartoum and thence on to the UK - Source of Information Aviation Safety Network. PHOTO A WEATHERHEAD via Jerry Burley

1926 - Jinja Pier, where a traction engine is being reassembled. The original railhead for the Uganda Railway was at Kisumu and Uganda was reached by steamer across Lake Victoria to Jinja and Port Bell. Onward travel from Jinja was by rail to Namasagali from where a steamer went on to Masindi Port - PHOTOs A WEATHERHEAD via Jerry Burley

Stern Wheeler Stanley at Masindi Port taken 18 May 1929. Steamboats operated between Masindi Port and Namasagali on the Victoria Nile. The first railway in Uganda was between Jinja through Mbulamuti and on to Namasagali. Mbulamuti became the junction for Namasagali when the main line from Nakuru through Eldoret and Tororo eventually reached Jinja and Kampala - PHOTOs A WEATHERHEAD via Jerry Burley

Masindi Port, 28 May 1929. From Masindi Port (above) steamer passengers were taken by road to Masindi where they would stay overnight in the railway owned guest house before continuing on, again by road, to Butiaba on Lake Albert - PHOTOs A WEATHERHEAD via Jerry Burley

On passage between Namasagali and Masindi Port. SW Stanley - Main Deck taken 19 May 1929. SW Stanley with lighters taken 19 May 1929 - PHOTOs A WEATHERHEAD via Jerry Burley

(above). The ship is apparently the Samuel Baker and Weatherhead's caption reads that the launch belonged to Metro Goldwyn Meyer, but the steamer (right) is the SW Grant at Butiaba. Steamers operated between Butiaba and the [then] Belgian Congo - PHOTOs A WEATHERHEAD via Jerry Burley

Alternative to going on to the Congo was to sail north up the Albert Nile known also as the West Nile
Why were there ships on the Nile and Lake Albert?
The inland maritime services which were eventually operated by the East African Railways and Harbours were to supplement the railway. Initially the so-called Uganda Railway terminated at Kisumu and Uganda was reached by steamer across Lake Victoria. The first railway in Uganda connected Jinja with Namasagali which was connected to Masindi Port by steamer. Masindi, where the Railways had what was more of a guesthouse than an hotel (albeit sporting an electricity generator), was the link between the river traffic on the Nile and the steamers on Lake Albert at Butiaba. Masindi itself was intended as a major administrative centre which never materialised and in the late 1950s was like a ghost town with abandoned government two storey houses - uncommon in Uganda at the time.

The first two A Class engines from India being hauled ashore in 1896 at Kilindini. A family with Ayah standing around one of the A Class locos called The Martin (right) They would form the nucleus of locos while others also arrived from India - PHOTOs via Kevin Patience

Traction engine by the railway line - PHOTOs via Kevin Patience

Memories of times gone by Lugard at possibly Namasagali or Masindi Port - PHOTOs Peter Wood

Memories of times gone by Lugard at possibly Namasagali or Masindi Port - PHOTOs Peter Wood

The former tug Buganda now moored at Mwanza as an annex to the Hotel Tilapia - PHOTO Jerry Burley

The same ship some years earlier - PHOTO Kevin Patience
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