PS Speke
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| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | PS Speke |
| Namesake | English explorer John Hanning Speke |
| Operator | Uganda Railway 1910–29; Kenya and Uganda Railways and Harbours 1929–48; East African Railways and Harbours Corporation 1948–62 |
| Port of registry |  |
| Route | Lake Kyoga and the Victoria Nile |
| In service | 1910[1] |
| Out of service | 1962[2] |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Paddle steamer |
| Type | river ferry and pusher tug, Stern wheel paddle steamer |
| Tonnage | 90 tons[2] |
| Installed power | 175 IHP compound steam engine[2] |
| Propulsion | stern wheel paddle[2] |
| Capacity | 6 first class & 4 second class passengers[2] |
| Crew | 20[2] |
PS Speke was a British stern wheel paddle steamer that operated in Uganda. She was built for the Uganda Railway from 1910 until 1962 serving as an important vessel on inland waterways including Lake Kyoga and the Victoria Nile during the colonial period. First and second class passengers travelled aboard the steamer but she also pushed a barge or lighter on which cargo and third class passengers travelled.[3]
Speke was built in 1910 for the Uganda Railway to provide transport on Lake Kyoga and Victoria Nile. She was a stern-wheel paddle steamer with a 175 indicated horsepower compound steam engine capable of carrying small number of passengers and a lighter cargo.[3] The vessel was named after John Hanning Speke, the English explorer credited with being the first European to reach Lake Victoria, which he identified as the source of the Nile in 1858.[4]
Design and Capabilities
Speke was a relatively modest vessel of around 90 tons and was designed both to carry first and second-class passengers and to push barges or lighters carrying cargo and third-class passengers. The paddle steamer's stern wheel was well suited to the shallow waters and fluctuating depths of lakes and rivers in the region.
She served as part of a broader colonial network that linked rail, lake and river transport in East Africa. Speke was intended to work with the Busoga Railway which ran from Jinja to Lake Kyoga. The vessel operated a route across Lake Kyoga to Masindi from where road services connected to other transport points including Lake Albert.[5]
Service History
Although Speke began operating in 1910, the completion of the Busoga Railway was delayed until 1913.[6] Once the railway line was complete, Speke operated the scheduled services across Lake Kyoga.[7] She and her barges were also used to carry cotton and other export goods from plantations in the area.[8]
In the 1920s and beyond, speke worked alongside other paddle steamers such as PS Stanley built in 1913 and PS Grant built in 1925 which were introduced to expand the inland waterway services and the Uganda Railway and its successors.[citation needed]
