The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

riverboat from its slip at Key Largo, Florida to Port Perry to take part in the town’s “Steamboats of Scugog Festi- val”. The festival was started as a way to Jaunch author Paul Arculus’ new book called, Steamboats on Scugog. Someone suggested they could show the movie African Queen during the festival, so Paul recalls scouring the internet for ideas for the festival. “T came across a story about the African Queen, which was located in Florida and owned by a lawyer Jim Hendricks, so contacted him to see if there was any chance that we could get the boat to Lake Scugog to be part of the festival”, Paul recalls. “He was extremely enthusiastic about the idea and agreed to tow it all the way to Port Perry on an open trailer behind his big dual wheeled. pickup truck.” Paul recounts that Jim completely enjoyed himself while enroute to Port Perry and also during his stay in town. But what he enjoyed most, was taking visitors out for a ride on Lake Scugog in the African Queen. It wasn’t completely smooth sailing after the boat arrived. The ‘Steamboat Festival’ organizers had to get Ministry approval for Jim to take passengers out on the boat since it was registered as a USA vessel and had to be inspected for Canadian waters. Paul said, “I phoned the authorities and the inspec- tor was quite skeptical when I told him it was the real African Queen. He came and inspected the boat and of course it passed with no problem.” They were also faced with having to scour the local lumber yards for oak scraps to fire the African Queen’s boiler. “Jim insisted that oak was the best fuel for the steam engine,” he said. The Steamboat Festival proved to be a huge suc- cess. Jeff Hutcheson of CTV broadcasted its morning show live from the lakefron. More than 3,000 people attended the event over the weekend. Unfortunately the festival never did float past the first year as weeds in the lake discouraged other steam- boat owners who were taking part. “Their owners spent more time in the water remov- ing weeds from the props than actually driving their boats. Unfortunately, the owners all said that they would not bring their boats back to this lake because of the weeds,” Paul said. After the Port Perry festival, the African Queen re- turned to its berth in Florida. Jim Hendricks died a few years later and for a decade after his death the famous little craft sat decaying in its slip near the Holiday Inn on Key Largo. Last December, Suzanne and Lance Holmquist 05, JUNE 40 PAGES REVISED.indd 31 The late Captain Jim Hendricks is seen here with the plaque which proclaimed him an honourary resident of Scugog Township. it was presented to him by Mayor Doug Moffatt in June 2000. struck a deal with Hendricks’ son to lease the boat and restore it, as closely as possible to its original condition. Following a $60,000 retrofit, the African Queen returned to the water in April this year. The restoration included fitting the old girl out witha new steel hull, boiler and recondition- ing of the black African mahogany wood. It was a fitting restoration for this 100 year old steel-hulled steamship, built at England’s Lytham shipyard in 1912. It was known as the ‘Living- stone’ when the British East Africa Rail Company used it to carry cargo and passengers on the Ruki River in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo until 1968. Years after the 1951 movie African Queen, the boat was found in Cairo, Egypt, purchased and shipped to the United States where it sat deteriorat- ing until Jim Hendricks purchased it in the early 1980s for a reported $65,000. Captain Hendricks, as he came to be known, restored the vessel and ran tourist trips aboard it from his Holiday Inn Hotel in the Florida Keys. It was also loaned out for historic celebrations as far away as England... and yes, Port Perry. And now you know the story of the famous movie riverboat that made a memorable visit to Lake Scugog not so long ago. By J. Peter Hvidsten Focus on Scugog The African Queen made her maiden journey after restoration on a Key Largo, Florida canal, Thursday, April 12, 2012. The vessel is steered by Steve Bogart, second from right, son of actor Humphrey Bogart who starred in the film with Katharine Hepbum. Nei FOCUS - JUNE 2012 31 12-05-21 10:01 AM