Boat Name
Boat Use
Boat Type
Build Date
Country of Origin
Area of Origin
Boat Dimensions
Length
35 ft 5 in
Description
We are not sure of the origins of this splendidly ugly and massive dugout, except that we fetched it from a hedge in Sussex and believe it originated in East Africa.
The most likely story is that it was presented by the local people to the chief engineer called Alfred Lawley, who was working in about 1905 on the construction of the Beira-Mashonaland Railway. They gave it to him so that he could prove that the railway had reached their lake and so that he could demonstrate the excellence of his railway by getting this massive boat down to the sea and back to England - indeed to his own lake in Sussex.
After it had arrived back in England it was taken by a cart and eight horses to Alfred Lawley's estate where it rolled off the cart and under a hedge, where it lay for the next 75 years! During this time its bottom, at least 10" thick, rotted away.
History
The Museum rescued it in 1982 and we are indebted to Socknersh Manor Estate near Burwash, for donating the boat and to Mr Stephen Keeling for drawing our attention to it.
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