THE KEYS – PART 3 – Bogart & Hemingway

AFRICAN QUEEN – a mystery

The actual boat as used in Bogart’s adventure with Hepburn –  Graham had to go see it!It was made in Lytham, Lancashire a 100 years ago – see here for more details – or was it?  See below from Wikipedia that says it was made in Gloucestershire.

The boat was built in 1912 in the United Kingdom for service in Africa on the Victoria Nile and Lake Albert where the movie was filmed in 1950. She was used by the British East Africa Railway from 1912 to 1968 to shuttle cargo and passengers across Lake Albert.The boat was found in Cairo, Egypt in the 1970s and purchased and shipped to USA. It was at the Holiday Inn in Marathon, Fl owned by John Linebaugh. The boat was of sheet iron riveted construction and still had coal in the bilges.^{[citation needed]}
In 2009, researchers found the craft was built by the marine architect Isaac J Abdela of the Abdela & Mitchell shipyards on the Stroud Canal at Brimscombe, Gloucestershire.^[2] The vessel was refurbished, including installation of an interior steel hull, and restored to service as a tourist boat in 2012.^[3]


But further quote from current owner
“Owner Jimmy, whose father originally bought the vessel, and who sailed it up to his death 15 years ago, has always believed the Queen was built on the banks of the River Ribble, near Lytham St Anne's, south of Blackpool on the Lancashire coast, before doing service in central Africa.
He gives short shrift to a claim that she was built in a Gloucestershire shipyard, saying: "Our research, helped by the Steam Museum in London, points to the Lancashire yard as the place where the Queen was built."
Holmquist adds: "If there's a degree of mystery and controversy about her origins, that's fine. There's even been talk that she was built in the same yard as the Titanic! That seems fanciful. The main thing is she's under full steam again.”

HEMINGWAYS HOUSE

A delightful old colonial house in Key West with stories of Hemingway's 4 wives, several children, and lots of cats.  His writing studio is still as it was from when he lived there for 9 years, before decamping with new wife to Cuba, and the descendants of the cats are now in charge.  There are over 40 of them, all over the house and garden, and their lives are documented with many retaining the gene that gives them a 6th toe – see picture.


It was interesting to hear about his contempories – Dali, Fitzgerald, Picasso – a pretty talented bunch living through tough times of Depression and Spanish Civil war – Hemingway himself was badly wounded in the WWI.  Made us both want to go away and read some of his books.