our top 10 old boats of note!
The S.S. Skibladner, the oldest operating paddle steamboat in timetabled service. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
We often refer to the Belle of Louisville as the world’s oldest operating Mississippi River-style steamboat. We’re in really good company. Authentic steamboats are rare, and there are a few boats that are older or different than us.
Let’s meet them!
The inspiration behind this blog was hearing from a great number of Scottish Belle fans on social media, who mentioned the Waverley as their beloved equivalent of our Belle. The Waverley is billed as the “world’s last seagoing paddle steamer,” launched in 1946 in Scotland, where she cruised the Firth of Clyde. In 1974, she was bought by the Paddle Steamer Preservation Society, which also operates another antique paddle steamer.
The Waverley currently voyages around the coast of the British Isles on a variety of cruises.
The Khufu Ship has a bit of a mysterious history. She is the world’s oldest intact ship. She is currently believed to have been a solar boat that may have brought a king to the afterworld with the sun god Ra. Although the ship was buried for thousands of years and re-discovered in 1954, she could still float if placed in the water.
This boat is the only surviving original galley in the world. A galley is a ship propelled by oars–like the Viking ships you see in popular culture. The Tarihi Kadirga was built sometime in the 16th or 17th century, and used well into the 1800s. Sultans in the Ottoman Empire used this vessel, and you can see her today in the Naval Museum in Istanbul.
Built in 1912, the TSS Earnslaw is almost our twin, age-wise! This twin-screw steamer, located in New Zealand, is the only remaining passenger-carrying coal-fired steamship in the Southern Hemisphere. Like the Belle, the Earnslaw was rescued from being scrapped in the 1960s.
The Edwin Fox is one of the world’s oldest merchant sailing ships – an interesting enough claim to fame. But what is even more fascinating is that this ship, currently on display in Picton, New Zealand, is the only surviving vessel to have carried Australian convicts overseas.
Built in 1853 in Calcutta, India, she again narrowly avoided being scrapped in the 1960s. She had been in use for nearly 100 years, however, sailing from 1853 to 1950. It floated in the water until 1999, when it was moved to a special dry dock for display.
The SS Skibladner was launched in 1856 on Lake Mjøsa in Norway. She has never stopped cruising, making her the oldest operating paddle steamboat in “timetabled service,” or traveling at certain times to various cities. Onboard, they have served the same meal, poached salmon and potatoes with strawberries for dessert, for a century and a half.
Anyone want their historic steamboat with a side of Mystic Pizza? The Sabino currently docks in Mystic Seaport in Connecticut. She’s the oldest coal-powered steamboat in America. It was once part of the “mosquito fleet” of smaller boats on the inland waterways that served ports that weren’t served by larger vessels.
In 1856, a steamboat traveling along the Missouri River near modern-day Kansas City hit a tree and sank. Over the years, the river shifted half a mile east, and the site where the boat was buried 45 feet underground became a farmer’s field. In 1988, she was excavated, and revealed one of the most completely stocked steamboat wrecks ever to be found. The mud was an excellent preserver… even the jarred food onboard was still edible!
The actual oldest operational steamboat in the world is not open to the public. The Tudor Vladimerescu started out her life in Austria-Hungary in 1854, but has been operated by the Romanian government since 1919. She has been everything from a tugboat to a royal vessel to a luxury restaurant, a schoolship and a hospital boat.
10. The Sparrow-HawkThe Sparrow-Hawk is the oldest surviving ship to have made the passage from England to the New World during America’s colonial period. She was driven ashore when she wrecked in a storm in June of 1626. Her hull was buried in the sands of Cape Cod until another storm uncovered them in 1863. For years, locals had referred to Old Ship Harbor, but the old ship itself had remained the stuff of legend. She was unburied, reconstructed, and displayed until recently. Currently, she is in storage at Pilgrim Hall Museum.