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Diving The Cecil Rhodes by Joan Haig
In September’s
edition of the Lowdown readers learned the fascinating history of
Zambia’s war wrecks. The Editor made an appeal for information on
the current site and state of the SS Cecil Rhodes, which was
assembled on the lake as a cargo boat in 1901 and sunk as a target
of war in 1914. By co-incidence, the same month that the Lowdown
article on Lake Tanganyika’s battle ships was published, a small
team carried out a series of dives to the wreck, with the aim of
recording its exact position using GPS. Among the team was Philip
Nielsen, who was jointly credited for rediscovering the site of the
century-old steamer some years ago. Local fishermen have been
familiar with its location for much longer as the steel skeleton is
sometimes visible from the lake surface and occasionally shreds
their nets.
It was
fascinating to read that the Cecil Rhodes was destroyed by fire
while German Lieutenant Kendrick was attempting to tow her out to
deeper water: today she is awkwardly twisted, her hull broken and
bow sitting at an angle in the sand only six metres below the lake
surface. The wreck protects a colourful ecosystem: yellow electric
catfish waver under slabs of metal, crabs scurry across fossilising
rods and bolts, and there are synodontis, zebra-striped or pale
orange neolamprologus, eels, and even nkupi. Diving into the belly
of the wreck would be a tight squeeze since space for tanks is
limited, the hole from the gun is ragged and the port holes are
small. There used to be many more of the riveted brass windows, but
now only four remain. It seems a pity that these have been removed,
since they are part of a situated, even if not officially
recognised, Zambian national heritage site. Gladly, though, the
name of the vessel, which is embossed in Victorian courier font,
survives for posterity.
For more
information on diving the SS Cecil Rhodes, or any other sites on
Lake Tanganyika, please contact Philip Nielsen on 097 351-040 or
email kalambo@zamtel.zm. Diving equipment can be provided and all
levels of experience are welcome.
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January
2007