Built as a cargo-passenger ship under yard 284 by Bow, Mclachlan & Co., Paisley, Scotland for the Uganda Railway.
1913 Launched as the USOGA named after the kingdom of Busoga which was named in the Swahili form Usoga.
Displacement 1,300 tons, 800 grt; dim. 67 x 11m
Two 400 hp triple expansion steam engines.
1914 In service.
The RUSINGA built under yard No 283 by the same yard and for the same owners.
1913 Launched as the RUSINGA, named after the Rusinga Island in Lake Victoria
Other details the same as her sister the USOGA.
In 1969 Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania issued a set of 4 stamps showing various vessels. The 30c stamp shows the train ferry UMOJA details you can find under that ship in the index.
However, there are two other vessels shown on this stamp. One is the VICTORIA (also shown on the 1s.30 value of the same set – details also in Vol 5) and the other is either the USOGA or RUSINGA. Both can be seen in the top left-hand corner of the stamp, above the UMOJA’s bow.
To confirm the name of the ship as USOGA I e-mailed Malcolm McCrow who has an excellent website on East African Railways and harbours (link below to his website). He replied and confirmed my identification. Since then, however, I have realised the vessel could also be the RUSINGA.
SS USOGA was a cargo and passenger Lake Victoria ferry in East Africa. Bow, McLachlan and Company of Paisley in Renfrewshire, Scotland built her and her sister ship SS RUSINGA in 1913.They were "knock down" vessels; that is, they were bolted together in the shipyard at Paisley, all the parts marked with numbers, disassembled into many hundreds of parts and transported in kit form by sea to Kenya for reassembly.
USOGA entered service on the lake in 1915 and was a troop ship during the First World War East African Campaign. After the Armistice she entered civilian service as a Lake Victoria ferry. In 1975 the East African Railways and Harbours Corporation laid her up at the Lake Victoria port of Kisumu. In the 1990s she sank at the quayside and in 2006 her remains were still there.
RUSINGA entered service on the lake in 1914 and was a troop ship during the First World War East African Campaign. After the Armistice she entered civilian service as a Lake Victoria ferry. In 1966 the East African Railways and Harbours Corporation withdrew her for scrap but she passed into private ownership and in 2005 was still in service.
Kenya, Uganda and Tanganyika 1969 30 c sg256, scott193.
Sources: Malcolm McCrow; Wikipedia; http://www.mccrow.org.uk/eastafrica/eas ... RLakes.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_USOGA
http://www.clydesite.co.uk/clydebuilt/v ... p?id=22794
http://www.flickr.com/photos/james_hooley/6158577015/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kenya ... e09b21.jpg
Peter Crichton
