The golden age

On the Nile

One of the best books about the Nile river steamers is On the Nile.

The following brief captured from http://grandhotelsegypt.com/?page_id=1531 about the book:

Ever since Caesar and Cleopatra honeymooned on the Nile, visitors to Egypt have taken to the river to experience the country’s landscapes and ancient heritage. In the nineteenth century, European explorers and adventurers rented triangular-sailed dahabiyas, on which they spent languid months drifting with the wind and currents. Then, in 1869, Thomas Cook of Leicester arrived with a party of thirty, hired a steamer from the Khedive of Egypt, and brought about a new golden age of travel on the Nile. From sail to steam and beyond, this book documents the pleasures, wonders, and occasional pitfalls of a century and a half of cruising the Nile, profusely illustrated with vintage photography, drawings, posters, and advertising material.

Running to 184 pages, with over 220 photographs and illustrations, On the Nile by Andrew Hamphreys published by the American University in Cairo Press in spring 2015.

http://grandhotelsegypt.com/?page_id=1531

The book cover

As with Grand Hotels of Egypt, On the Nile was designed by Gadi Farfour, who also did much of the picture research; visit her website at gadifarfour.co.uk

Max Mallowan (British archaeologist)

Sir Max Edgar Lucien Mallowan, CBE was a prominent British archaeologist, specialising in ancient Middle Eastern history. He was the second husband of Dame Agatha Christie.
Born May 1904 and died August 1978 (aged 74)

Scientific career
  
Fields  Archaeologist
Institutions  University of London and All Souls College, Oxford

Mallowan and Agatha Christie in Tell Halaf northeastern Syria 1930s

He first worked as an apprentice to Leonard Woolley at the archaeological site of Ur (1925–31), which was thought to be the capital of Mesopotamian civilization. It was at the Ur site, in 1930, that he first met Agatha Christie, the famous author, whom he married the same year. In 1932.

Nile’s forgotten steamers

In this article, I try to highlight the forgotten steamers of the Nile. Several old articles or Thomas Cook and Son’s advertises spotlights on steamers, not any more existing or barely can be recognized from there wreckage.

In the early days of the Nile steamers names such as Ramses, Ramses the great, Nicotris, Tawfik, Prince Abbas and Prince Mohammed Ali was the main pillars of Thomas Cook and Son’s main concept and the jewels of the first class tourism in the 19th and 20th century.

Fostat steamer abundant in a dock near Kom Ombo temple.

 

 

Thomas Cook and Son’s Nile flotilla poster in London

 

 

 

 

S/S Karim (part 2)

S/S Karim able to host 32 passengers and owning a private library including a collection of books dating back to 1849 on board for the passenger’s leisure. 

Still powered by its original 1917 steam engine

Still powered by its original 1917 steam engine and stern quarter wheel paddles, the S/S Karim today combines the comfort of the modern era with the grandeur of the bygone past.

The boat is decorated in a colonial period style with many subtle reminders of her distinguished past.