Ex Canadian Brazilian sternwheelers

[Paulrjordan]

Hi again, Bert:

I wonder if you can throw some light on this matter. About a year ago
our Member in Brazil, Alvanir, sent me information about one (or
maybe two) Canadian sternwheelers which were shipped to Brazil in
pieces and reassembled there. They had apparently been originally
shipped to the BC interior but were not required, and the suggestion
is they never actually saw service in Canada. Ever since Alvanir
wrote to me, these Brazilian mystery paddlers have haunted me and
yet, even experts like Bob (Turner) have never heard of them. Have
you ever come across these, Bert?

Also, some inland lakes sternwheelers were built in other places away
from the lakes ("Tyrrell", "Bonnington", "Moyie" and "Minto" in
Toronto and "Nasookin" in Port Arthur) and shipped dismantled to the
BC Lakes. I once heard that one or two may have even been made in
Scottish shipyards. Is there any substance to this?

"Granthall" is a fine looking tug and should be spectacular under
steam power. Please keep us updated on your progress with her.

Kind regards from the coast!

PJ
Victoria, BC Canada

[Alistair Deayton]

I don't know about ex-Canadian ones, but the firm of James Rees in
Pittsburgh built a series of about a dozen sternwheel steamers for the
Amazon about 1912. There is a picture in the Rees catalogue of the time of
them all lines up at the Pittsburgh yard. Some are still listed in Lloyds
Register although long since scrapped.
One, at least, was moved to the Rio Sao Francisco and was still sailing in
the early eighties. There was a BBC film of her as Sao Francisco in the
River Journeys series shown in 1984 and a chapter about the journey, by
Germaine Greer (!), in the book of the same name about that series. At that
time there were still three wood-fired sternwheelers on the Sao Francisco,
but a new dam curtailed that sailings and they ceased soon after. For a time
one of the steamer, Wenceslau Braz, ran tourist trips from Pirapora, but, as
far as I know, they have not been operated for a few years now.

[Bryant Owen]

Not sure if this is helpful but West & Peachey built a twin steam engine alligator for use in Columbia. It was shipped there in two pieces sometime in the twenties. I've heard rumours that alligators were also used in Brazil. I'd presumed these were locally built ones but there's nothing to say that someone didn't ship some "redundant" ones out there. Alligators were regularly shipped via rail throughout Ontario and, I presume, other places in Canada and the US.

Bryant