P.S. Kookaburra

[Paulrjordan]

Nice job on Kookaburra, Brett..VERY interesting ship if not a little
ungainly. Definitely looks like a quarter-wheeler. Independant
wheel? What is that circular object on her stern which look like an
electric fan?

Regards

PJ

[B Worden]

For an operating vessel that's similar, see
http://www.vjv.co.uk/tours/river/fuads_nile_steamer.html

but pay no attention to the hustory claiming royal ownership. EVERY old steamer in Egypt is said to have been owned by the kings....

Bill Worden

[Paulrjordan]

Well, Bill.. an "interesting" looking ship..slightly reminiscent of a
floating appartment building but nonetheless a fabulous way to travel
down the "Nile in Style". Thanks very much for posting the URL...I
enjoyed my browse round the site, although they could have put up a
few more pics of the vessel. I take it she IS a quarter wheeler?

Best regards from WARM Victoria...enjoy all the freezing weather WE
had 10 days ago!

PJ
Victoria, BC Canada.

[B Worden]

Yes, she's a quarter-wheeler, I would think the last in steam anywhere. I'll
try to scan and post a stern view....

Alistair Deayton has determined that she is one of a class of such vessels built in Britain as part of the World War I effort and intended as towing steamers in Mesopotamia. Obviously, she never got there. Several visitors to her, including myself, have tried and failed to find any marking on her that would identify her with a builder or a specific one of the quarter-wheelers built at the time. But there are engine room markings that make it clear she's British. For those interested in machinery, she has two independent two-cylinder horizontal compounds, one for each wheel. The shafts abut on the centerline and have hubs that can be bolted together to make a single shaft and, in effect, a four-cylinder engine driving both wheels.

As you've surmised, the upperworks were all-new a few years ago.

Bill Worden