SS Robert Coryndon
{{use British English|date=May 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2023}}
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{{Infobox ship image |Ship image = Picture_of_the_wreck_of_SS_Sir_Robert_Coryndon.jpg |Ship caption = Robert Coryndon{{'}}s wreck in 2009 }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header = |Ship name = Robert Coryndon |Ship namesake = Sir Robert Coryndon, Governor of Uganda 1918–22 |Ship owner = |Ship operator = Kenya and Uganda Railways and Harbours (1930–48); East African Railways and Harbours Corporation (1948–67) |Ship registry = 28px |Ship route = fortnightly between Butiaba on Lake Albert and Kasenyi on Lake George{{cite news |title=General Notice No 197; Kenya and Uganda Railways and Harbours; Steamer Services, Lake Albert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NLXaemdqwFgC&pg=PA120 |newspaper=Kenya Gazette |volume=XXXVII |issue=8 |date=12 February 1935 |page=120}} |Ship ordered = |Ship builder = J.I. Thornycroft & Co, Woolston, England |Ship original cost = |Ship yard number = 1086 |Ship way number = |Ship laid down = |Ship launched = September 1929 |Ship completed = |Ship christened = |Ship acquired = |Ship maiden voyage = |Ship in service = 1930 |Ship out of service = |Ship identification = |Ship fate = Sank 1962 |Ship notes = }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header = |Header caption = |Ship class = |Ship type = Passenger & cargo ferry |Ship tonnage = 860 tons{{cite news |title=Gazette Notice No 265; East Africa Railways & Harbours |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=luMZJhLRQH8C&pg=PA67 |newspaper=Kenya Gazette |volume=LXVIX |issue=4 |date=24 January 1967 |page=67}} |Ship displacement = |Ship length = |Ship beam = |Ship height = |Ship draught = |Ship depth = |Ship decks = |Ship deck clearance = |Ship ramps = |Ship power = |Ship propulsion = Steam engine; twin screws |Ship speed = |Ship capacity = |Ship crew = |Ship notes = }} |
SS Robert Coryndon was a British twin-screw passenger and cargo ferry on Lake Albert in central Africa.
She was built in England in 1929 and reassembled in kit form at Lake Albert in 1930. She ran aground in 1962 and lay derelict until she was broken up for scrap between 2009 and 2012.
Building
John I. Thornycroft & Company at Woolston, Hampshire built the ship for Kenya and Uganda Railways and Harbours in 1929–30. She was named after the South African Sir Robert Coryndon, who was Governor of Uganda 1918–22.{{cite web |url=http://www.biog.com/story.php?story_id=776&biog_id=856 |title=Jitze Couperus |last=Couperus |first=Jitze |date=6 April 2009 |work=Biog: The World Biography Project |access-date=2011-05-18 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20110910154718/http://www.biog.com/story.php?story_id=776&biog_id=856 |archive-date=10 September 2011 |df=dmy-all }}
She was a "knock-down" ship. She was assembled in 1929 at Woolston.{{cite book |last=Barnaby |first=KC |title=100 Years of Specialized Shipbuilding & Engineering |place=London |publisher=Hutchinson |page=93}}{{cite web |url= http://shippingandshipbuilding.uk/view.php?official_number=&imo=&builder=&builder_eng=&year_built=&launch_after=&launch_before=&role=&type_ref1=&propulsion=&owner=&port=&flag=&disposal=&lost=&ref=221069&vessel=ROBERT+CORYNDON |title=Robert Coryndon |work=Shipping and Shipbuilding |publisher=North East Maratime Forum |access-date=26 October 2020}} All her parts were marked with numbers, she was disassembled into many hundreds of parts, and transported in kit form to Africa, where she was reassembled on the shore of Lake Albert in 1930. Part of the overland journey to Lake Albert was by lorry, which severely limited the maximum size and weight of her parts.
Robert Coryndon was part of a plan for a network of railway, river steamer and lake steamer services linking British interests in Egypt, East Africa and southern Africa. Sir Winston Churchill described her as "the best library afloat".{{cite book |last1=Briggs |first1=Phillip |last2=Roberts |first2=Andrew |year=2011 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Bbie6GicSC0C&pg=PA381 |title=Uganda |edition=6th |series=Bradt Travel Guides |isbn= 9781841623092|page=381}}
Fate
Robert Coryndon sank in 1962, around the time of Ugandan independence from Britain. She was not refloated.
In 1967 the East African Railways and Harbours Corporation (EAR&H) offered her wreck for sale, but she remained largely intact in 2009 (see photo).
By the beginning of 2012 her wreck had been taken away "in bits and pieces by cutting all the metal remains for scrap" and only her aft king posts were still visible above the water.{{cite web |url= http://paulmenya.wordpress.com/tag/lake-albert/ |last=Menya |first=Paul |title=Mourning the Coryndon |date=2012 |access-date=2012-06-30}}
References
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Category:Ships built by John I. Thornycroft & Company
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