The MV Liemba, formerly the Graf von Götzen, is a passenger cargo ferry that runs along the eastern shore of Lake Tanganyika. The ship was built in 1913 in Germany, and was one of three vessels operated by the Germans to control Lake Tanganyika during the early part of World War I. It was scuttled by its captain on 26 July 1916 off the mouth of the Malagarasi river, during the German retreat from the town of Kigoma. In 1924 the ship was salvaged by a British Royal Navy salvage team and recommissioned in 1927 as the Liemba. The vessel is now owned by the Tanzania Railways Corporation and runs between the ports of Kigoma, Tanzania and Mpulungu, Zambia with numerous stops to pick up and set down passengers in between.
The ship was the inspiration for the German gunboat Luisa in C.S. Forester's 1935 novel The African Queen, and the subesquent film version. The story of the ship's sinking was recently retold in a book by Giles Foden entitled Mimi and Toutou Go Forth. The Bizarre Battle for Lake Tanganyika. In 1992 the boat featured in the travel series 'Pole to Pole' and Michael Palin stayed in one of the ship's cabins. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Liemba
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