She is a wonderful part of history and the lifeline of the Lake. She is stooped in history and is the only active ferry of her class, still in active service. She has recently been given a facelift and she offers adventurers a wonderful, inexpensive method of access to the entire lake. she leaves Kigoma on Wednesday afternoons and arrive here in Kipili late evening on Thursdays. Please contact us directly for more exact sailing details. She is comfortable to sleep on, you can get hot meals and cold drinks, what more could you ask for froma 97-year old Lady?
Early history
The Graf von Götzen was built in 1913 at the Meyer-Werft Shipyard in Papenburg, Germany, and named after Count Gustav Adolf Graf von Götzen, the former governor of German East Africa. Soon after being built, the ship was taken apart and shipped in parts to East Africa in order to bolster Germany's military presence in the area. It arrived first in Dar es Salaam, and was then taken on the Central Line across to Kigoma, on the shores of Lake Tanganyika. It was there, in 1914, that the ship was rebuilt and launched, in January 1915.
With the aid of the Götzen, the Germans had complete control of the lake in the early stages of the war. The ship was used both to ferry cargo and personnel across the lake, and as a base from which to launch surprise attacks on Allied troops. It therefore became essential for the Allied forces to gain control of the lake themselves. This they achieved by the monumental task of the Royal Navy bringing two armed motor boats Mimi and Toutou from England to the lake by rail, road and river to Kalemie on the western shore of Lake Tanganyika. The two boats waited until December 1915, and mounted a surprise attack on the Germans, with the capture of the gunboat Kingani. Another German vessel, the Hedwig, was sunk in February 1916, leaving the Götzen as the only German vessel remaining to control the lake.
As a result of their strengthened position on the lake, the Allies started advancing towards Kigoma by land, and the Belgians established an airbase on the western shore at Albertville. It was from there, in June 1916, that they launched a bombing raid on German positions in and around Kigoma. It is unclear whether or not the Götzen was hit (the Belgians claimed to have hit it but the Germans denied this), but German morale suffered and the ship was subsequently stripped of its gun since it was needed elsewhere.
The war on the lake had reached a stalemate by this stage, with both sides refusing to mount attacks. However, the war on land was progressing, largely to the advantage of the Allies, who cut off the railway link in July 1916 and threatened to isolate Kigoma completely. This led the German commander, Gustav Zimmer, to abandon the town and head south. In order to avoid his prize ship falling into Allied hands, Zimmer scuttled the vessel on July 26, off the mouth of the Malagarasi River.
The Götzen remained on the floor of Lake Tanganyika until 1924, when it was salvaged up by the British, to aid transport around the lake in the new protectorate of Tanganyika. They found that the engines and boilers were still usable and the ship returned to service in 1927 as a passenger and cargo ferry under the new title MV Liemba.
The ferry has been operating almost nonstop since that date. After Tanzanian independence in 1961, the Tanzania Railways Corporation took over the running of the ferry, allowing them to tie in services with the Central Line from Kigoma to Dar es Salaam. In 1970, the ship underwent its most recent overhaul, in which the traditional coal engine was replaced with a diesel one and the accommodation was upgraded, allowing an increase in passenger numbers from 430 to 600.
In 1997, the Liemba was used by the UNHCR, along with the MV Mwongozo, to transport more than 75,000 refugees, who had fled Zaire during the First Congo War, back to their homeland following the overthrow of longtime dictator Mobutu Sese Seko. The ship made a total of 22 trips between Kigoma and Uvira during this five month operation.
The African Queen
The battle of Lake Tanganyika provided the inspiration for the 1935 novel The African Queen by C.S. Forester. The German gunship Königin Luisa (referred to by hero Charlie Allnutt as the Louisa), is based on the Götzen, and to a certain extent the events portrayed in the film are based on the dramatic operation carried out by the British, but the actual events described in the book bear little resemblance to the true course of history.[1] The book was subsequently made into a film, the 1951 classic The African Queen, starring Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn. The gunship used in the filming, was played variously by the Lugard II paddle-steamer, owned by East African railways, and operating on Lake Edward, and by the steam-tug Buganda on Lake Victoria, which was used for the long shots. The film still brought a certain notoriety to the Götzen/Liemba, however. Like its real life counterpart, the Luisa ended up at the bottom of Lake Tanganyika, following a collision with the 'hero boat' African Queen towards the end of the film.
