Forums Forums Wirral History : Chasing the Past History Information Request Wirral Ferry sails on The Amazon

Listening to the Cinemaphotographer Christopher Challis in a BAFTA tribute interview he mentioned that before the filming of Powell and Pressburger's End of the River, made in 1947 and starring Sabu a Liverpool Ferry was dismantled and taken to South America to be used for the film. The boat you can see in the film is Aripuana so I am assuming the ferry was used for storage and as a floating hotel. Can anybody help shed light on what boat it was, I have put ideas on the Britmovie web site

End of the River

Many thanks

Paul

Note that Lairds built an iron hulled paddle steamer that was designed to be dismantled and re-assembled for the explorer Dr Livingstone. This was for Africa, of course. Wiki thread here Dr. Livingstone .
So was something similar done for use in South America?

In 1862 at the Thames Ironworks, two ships were built for the Peruvian navy and shipped over to South America in kit form to be used on Lake Titicaca, 12,500 feet above sea level. Each piece could weigh no more than three and a half hundredweight, so it could be carried by a mule. See ...

http://www.yavari.org/yavari-story.html

There is still a Laird Brothers built ship sailing on an inland lake in South America - could be Lake Titicaca. I can't remember it's name or building date , but it will be in Laird's archive.

Bob.

The Huascar, an ironclad built by Lairds in 1865, is now a museum ship in Chile ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huáscar_(ironclad)

In 1862, Laird's built the YAVARY and in 1871 built the YAPURA for service on Lake Titicaca. The Yapura was later renamed the PUNO. The PUNO was used as a hospital ship for villages around the lake. In 1977 the Yavary was re-fitted and re-named the CHUCUITO. Both were iron vessels.

Thanks for the replies so far, all interesting and helps this nagging feeling in the mind that it must have been a dismantable ship as to take apart an ordinary ferry and rebuild it would surely take special equipment and skill. I do know that it was a wood burning ferry. The other option of course is a misunderstanding after such a long time and the ferry with a few modifications sailed across the Atlantic to the mouth of the Amazon.

Paul

Perhaps the other possibility is a Liverpool to Dublin ferry which would need no modification, also trying to find out what ferries were taken out of service around the time the film was made may help.

Thanks Bert,

This is what I have done at

end of the river

I wonder if it could have been the Royal Iris which was used in the Zeebrugge raid, although in 1946 it was based in Ireland.

Regards

Paul

It says here ...

http://www.yavari.org/yavari-story.html

... that the Yavari and Yapura were built at the Thames Ironworks.

It says the Thames ironwork's were sub-contracted to build the iron hulls.

Below extract from official Cammell Laird edition given to all employees who worked at the yard at the time of the 150th anniversary.

It may well be "official", but it's also wrong. There was a time in the late 1970s to mid-1980s when it was generally believed that the Yavari and Yapura were built by Lairds, as they were one of the most prolific builders of this type of 'knock down' vessel, but extensive searches in the firm's Archives failed to come up with any contemporary reference to them. Subsequent research has confirmed that the two vessels were indeed built by Thames Ironworks.

I'll take your word on it Marty, Laird's book is all I've got on the subject.

On Google Books, the Naval Institute Guide to Combat Fleets of the World, which I think is an American publication, also lists the Yapura / Puno as being built by Laird's.

Another opinion,

http://www.irishseashipping.com/photofeatures/worldshipping/titicacaships2008/titicacaships2008.htm