GUENDOLEN: Built as a gunboat by G. Rennie & Co, Greenwich near London for the British Central Africa Administration in 1897.
Displacement 340 tons, dim. 136 x 24ft.
Twin screws, speed 10-12 knots.
Armament 2 - 6pdr. Hotchkiss guns forward and 1 – 3pdr. aft.
1899 Shipped out for assembly at Port Johnston.
May 1899 she made her maiden voyage on Lake Malawi with on board the Commissioner for the Protectorate on board.
Thereafter she took over the patrol duties on the lake from the ADVENTURE and PIONEER.
August 1914 she put out of action the only German gunboat on the lake the HERMANN VON WISSMANN, which was at that time beached and under repair. The news of this action reached the U.K. and was headlines in the news papers.
Till 1940 was she in government service.
1940 Transferred to the Nyasaland Railways.
1944 Scrapped at Fort Johnston when the hull was found to be unserviceable.
Various relics from the GUENDOLEN you can find in a mock-up bridge of the ship in the Lake Malawi Museum.
One of the Hotchkiss guns is mounted in front of the Vipya Memorial near the clock tower in Mangochi.
Malawi 1967 3s sg280, scott?
Source: Lake Malawi Steamers by P.A. Cole-King.