The true story of a legendary vessel

A cruise on the Nile during "la Belle-Epoque"

During the Belle Epoque, a cruise on the Sudan lasted 20 days, It was a round-trip tour, from Cairo to Aswan, one gets back on, and then one goes down the Nile river. In the 1920's, the price of this cruise is 70 €, everything included, even the bakchichs, but not the entrances into the historic monuments. It's true that the Egyptian government demanded the fixed tax payment of 24 shillings whatever the number of passengers in order to issue an entrance card with a list of the names of the visitors in a specified office.

The Sudan left Cairo at 10 o'clock on Wednesday morning. After lunch, one visited Memphis, tourists were transported on donkeys to the sites. Yes donkeys but it was a very serious affair: It was against the rules for the tourists to leave the ship before the donkeys were there. One thing for certain, the customers of Cook were not there to foolishly spend their money. Even if you couldn't wait to leave, you had to wait for the chime of the disembarkation bell. The first night was spent at port of El Wasta.

Thursday, an easy day, The Sudan would go from El Wasta to Al Minya a journey that represents about of 160kms. It made haste every evening in order to avoid the dangers of night navigation. The only thing preventing them was the board regulations stipulating them to turn off their lights by 11 : 30 p.m.

Friday, the tourists could only get off the ship for a small excursion to the caves of Speos: One still had to ride a donkey for three-quarters of an hour to arrive there. And then the Sudan quickly took off for Manfalut.

The fourth day, the roles inversed. The ship didn't go much further than Asyut, a few 50 odd kilometers or so. The travellers themselves had the opportunity to visit the tombs of Hapsefai and Khet: one hour ride for climbing to the summit of the mountain. The selling point for Cook was that it's one of the most beautiful views of the Nile River and one had to go to see it.

Sunday was restful; they went back up the River for about 160 kms to reach Girga. And then again for about 120kms to get to Dendera on Monday, passing by Abydos, where there was a return stop programmed for the second part of the trip.

Wonderful surprise awaited the seventh day: one took a donkey to the temple of Dendera and continued in the same way on to Karnack and then to Luxor where the ship was waiting for them. The program, normally so precise, omitted the time necessary for exploration. Judging by the other excursions, three hours was the minimum needed for the trip. Surely this would happen if the lunches were served punctually at 1 p.m. under the tents decorated for the occasion.

At Luxor, they stop for a three-day visit of important historic sites without interruption. Wednesday morning in Karnack, Luxor in the afternoon. Thursday the Valley of Kings, the Temple of Hatshepsout, Ramesseum and the Colossus of Memmon. Of course, all of this was done on a donkey. Luckily, there was a precision that lunch would be served in the Chalet of Hatshepsout, specifically built by Cook in order to allow his travellers to have their lunch in a cool and refreshing place. It's true that the passengers left the ship at 9 o'clock in the morning and didn't come back until 5 o'clock in the evening. The Valley of the Queens was the surprise for Friday morning.

The eleventh day was a cruise from Luxor to Edfu with a visit to the temple. On Sunday one finally got to Aswan where they programmed porting for two days and to get off the ship. Thank God Elephantine and Philae were visited in a small boat. We imagine that the travellers really appreciated time away from the ship at this point.

Wednesday, the fifteenth day, pushed along by the current, The Sudan went from Aswan to Luxor in one single trip (It takes about three days to do this today, but there is no longer the wild current of the Nile's youth and the current is no longer this strong, so the voyage then took no more than six days to get back to Cairo). Only one stop is programmed, that of Abydos, before the passengers return for their final evening on the twentieth day in Cairo.
The big ships in Cook's fleet could accommodate up to 80 passengers. One can imagine the work of the guides and interpreters who had to survey these 80 or so passengers some of which were English ladies that would have to perch themselves on Egyptian donkeys, robust and serviceable, for sure, but all the same, trotting along the Nile deep in the Valley of Kings in an environment of flowered hats, of crinoline and parasols under a sun that was not always favourable, and was not the real destiny of a donkey, even if it were an Egyptian donkey. Not only a mandatory donkey-driven destiny to remember that but also that the masses being transported protest in the same excessive manor with the donkeys as they normally liked to complain. These expeditions must have been really colourful!

Luckily, the service and the comfort a board was such that the sufferings on the excursions were easy to forget. The ship owner had prepared lounges for game playing, backgammon, a relaxation room, and at the bow of the ship there was art lounge where English women could devote themselves to their favourite art, watercolors. The men had at their own disposition a smoking lounge where the servers would also bring them their favourite beverage, whiskey or port.
In case of any problems, the doctor on board had one nurse and was equipped with adequate surgical tools however everything had been organized in order to avoid these things: a cold chamber for the conservation of food and supplies as well as water that was regularly boiled in a special room.

The ship was as well cared for as the passengers. An engineer could always be found aboard to allow for urgent repairs and in the off season, summer, when the Nile River was at it's lowest, it went through careening and small reparations at the arsenal at Bulak.

Some passengers boarded the ship only until Aswan and then changed ships in order to get to Khartoum and there after, Uganda then to Kenya. That's where the records of Cook are less precise: it's only indicated that it takes between eleven to seventeen days to go from Khartoum to Kampala…

From 1900 to 1935, it's the grande époque for voyages on the Nile. Some documents of the period show that Cook's ships in their time of splendour, like one of the most famous photographs of the Egyptian era found in the archives of Gaddis, the arrival of The Sudan at Aswan in 1910.

The war from 1914-1918 marks the rupture of this period. Turkey chooses the wrong side, that of the loosing side. The Occident proclaims independence from Egypt under the form of a kingdom with King Fouad who mounts his throne. It's the grandson of Solomon. Brought up in Switzerland, Fouad is francophone and Occidentalised. He pursues the initial modern politics begun by his grandfather. One half of the country is worried: in 1928, they create the Brothers of Islam.

Cook resumed his activites. From the rare dossiers saved in the Egyptian archives, we can extract a record dated from 1926 announcing that The Sudan was being put back in the water after her renovations. Cook's fleet reigns again on the Nile River. In the Near East, England is the dominating power: it moulds the region with the advantage of tribal leaders who helped Lawrence against the Turks. Diplomats, businessmen, and military men come to Cairo and form a base for cruise passengers on the Nile. Intellectuals and archaeologists aren't left out. Among them Henry Mallowan, a brilliant young archaeologist, is the director of excavations in Irak. He would take a cruise on the Nile with his wife, a brilliant novelist twenty years his senior. Agatha Christie Mallowan would come up with the idea of Death on the Nile.

The Second World War tolls the bell for tourism in the Orient. Farouk has followed his father. The Muslim Brotherhood becomes agitated. At the end of the war, the Occident finds itself taken by whirlwind: One needed to reconstruct Europe and manage the numerous independence movements seeking autonomy who wished to take advantage of the economic hardships of their former colonizers. Farouk manages as best as he can. The public opinion of the Arabic population is ready to revolt with the creation of Israel. In 1948, Farouk nationalizes certain English companies in order to calm the opposed. Cook was one of them. After one has seen the state of Egyptian tourism, it's not that big of a deal. The ships stay at port.