The true story of a legendary vessel

The Steam Ship Sudan is rediscovered by Voyageurs du Monde
[2000…]

Farouk abdicates in 1952 under the pressure of the army. In 1954, a man stands out among the lot: Colonel Gamal abd-Nasser takes over. Nasser doesn't go back over the nationalizations problems, to the contrary: He adds one and nationalizes the Suez Canal; the symbol if one was to exist of the presence of the Occident.
The era of Nasser would not be favourable to tourism. This man induced fear. His political positions, his willingness to be a leader of the Third World, and finally his fearsome opposition to the Occident. He leads Egypt into two wars against Israel, where the Middle East is gunpowder and Egypt is the fuse.

He is replaced after his death in 1970 by Anouar-al Sadate. Suddenly the situation in Egypt becomes uncomplicated and it goes back to being an important tourist destination.
But in the Occident, the tourism has been modified. The airplane has changed the deal and tourism is no longer reserved to the elite. The last ship of the Belle Epoque floats down the Nile; The Sudan is no longer adaptable. Now the ships that are sailing are bigger and more modern. With all proportions kept in mind, this new fleet is what the Egyptian tourism was trying to avoid : the gigantic concrete hotels of Costa Brava or of Languedoc.

The Sudan stays at bay. It would have to wait until the end of the twentieth century, one hundred years after it was put in the water at Bulak for it to return to its original splendor. Renovated, modified, discretely modernized and adapted, The Sudan is newly en vogue. With the Winter Palace and the Old Cataract, it remains one of the last witnesses of the Golden Age of Egyptian tourism.

August 10th, 2000 : two dreamers take off in an EgyptAir flight, destination Luxor. They commercialise voyages and have found a new project to start an enchanting cruise line on the Nile River. Their first mission is to find a ship! They had 40 ships to choose from in a matter of 2 days: this was in vain however! None of them corresponded to the concept they were looking for. Too big, too heavy, too new, too unattractive… Nothing was really acceptable.

August 13th, 2000 : Dinner in Cairo with a ship owner, the two friends explain their setbacks, the ship owner proposes one last visit, but it's late (1:30 a.m.) and they plan to leave for Paris that very morning. The visit is hence a nocturnal visit.

2:15 a.m : the two associates discover an half wreckage floating on an unused wharf. In the divergent beam of light from the torches appears the name S.S. Sudan on the calendar of the paddle wheel. The visit is fast.

"This ships is incredible, it's everything we're looking for, we'll take it, right?
- You're crazy, it's wreckage.
- Oh come on', it's not that bad. Okay it's old and unkempt. Look at the wood, it's teak, you can renovate it… Try to imagine it remade, repainted, waxed, furnished.
- You really think so? What about the motor, does it still work?
- A motor is a motor. I'm sure we can repair it.
- How old is the ship?"

The Ship owner : "About a hundred years old, we filmed some scenes from the film, Death on the Nile, on it.
- That's great, it has a history. Do you think it can be renovated?
Here in Egypt?
- If it were a house, I would say yes right away. A ship however is something I never did. We should look at how much it is going to cost."

3:30 a.m. that same night : a study on the possibility of renovation, the costs, the time needed, and all is decided.
An audit would be handled by a naval engineer. The verdict: "It's complicated but doable! We need to manufacture some parts for the motor, primarily the connecting rod because it's in a bad state and has to be replaced. The hull isn't suffering and that's the essential."

We needed six months to work on the ship. The woodwork was restored. The optimist was right; teak never suffers on the inside of the wood. *A little bit of finesse needed to find period furniture in Cairo, many documents and old photographs used to research the decorating details and to restore the lustre to the cooper pots, woodwork, and china. The Egyptian workers happily worked to restore a part of their history.

Spring 2001 : The steamship takes her first trip and the brass paddle wheel is in the water again and on the Nile River: The Sudan is reborn. She is going to see her old friends, the Winter Palace and the Old Cataract. Agatha Christie didn't board the ship again, but no one could stop you from getting some shade from Hercule Poirot. Buses have replaced donkeys for transporting visitors, the cruise has been reduced to the section of Cairo to Luxor, but the idea remains intact. A cruise on The Sudan is still unlike anything else.