German East Africa
Battles, Books and Bogart
At the end of 1915 up to July of 1916 there were several naval battles between the British and German navies on the waters of Lake Tanganyika. One rather eccentric British naval officer took two small gun boats from South Africa and carried them overland and through the jungle to reassemble them on Lake Tanganykia. The series of battles served as the basis of a book written by CS Forester
Forester wrote a number of novels about naval battles that later became movies. Several featured his most well known character, Horatio Hornblower. One of his lesser well known books, The Good Sheppard, became the movie Greyhound starring Tom Hanks.
But the subject of today’s entry was his novel, The African Queen.
The basis of the movie. First published in 1935. In 1951, director John Houston decided to turn the book into a movie and film it on location. While scouting locations he came across the Steam Launch (S/L) Livingstone. He renamed it The African Queen and it was one of two boats used in the film. S/L Livingstone was built in 1912 and served with the British East Africa Railway. It was still active until the late 1960s. It eventually found its way to the US and remains afloat as a tourist attraction in Florida. You can read more about her here:
Movie poster
The boat as she appears in the movie. 
This is the model from Brigade Games. 
This is the model I received. It’s rough and is going to need a lot of cleanup. I plan on using the boat as an objective or terrain piece. Made of metal and resin, it’s rough and is going to need a lot of cleanup.
Nice bit of history. My Great uncle played one of the German officers on the ship at the end of that movie