The historic vessel from the 1951 classic film "The African Queen" is back on the waters of Key Largo after some major restoration work.
The vessel received almost $70,000 in restorations, including cosmetic and mechanical repairs to make sure the boat will be able to carry passengers, according to the Florida Keys News Bureau.
The African Queen was built in 1912 at England's Lytham shipbuilding yard and was originally named the Livingstone.
It served the British East Africa Rail Company shuttling cargo in the northwestern Democratic Republic of Congo until 1968. The vessel was temporarily pulled from service for the film, which starred the iconic pair of Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn.
Bogie’s son, Stephen Bogart, was among those who rode the African Queen at its “re-launch” party Thursday evening in Key Largo, the Florida Keys News Bureau reported.
The boat’s wandering years included stays in San Francisco and on the Deschutes River in Oregon.
In 1982 Jim Hendricks Sr. discovered the vessel in Ocala, Florida – where it had been brought as part of an unsuccessful plan to user her in cruises year-round – and bought the African Queen for a reported $65,000, the Florida Keys News Bureau said.
Hendricks invested to get the queen back on track and began offering rides in 1983 at Key Largo's Holiday Inn. That lasted until 2001, when the African Queen’s engine broke and was never fixed.
Then, last year, Captain Lance Holmquist and Suzanne Holmquist signed a long-term lease with Jim Hendricks' son to restore the vessel. They have overseen repairs and have taken pains to make it appear as it did in the film, replacing steel in the hull, replacing the boiler, and oiling the black African mahogany to condition the wood.
"It's important to me because I love old movies and films, and just to see the amount of interest that this boat is still generating, even as dilapidated as she had gotten, it was incredible," Suzanne Holmquist said. "I think restoring the African Queen has firmly sealed the tie and connection with the Bogart name to Key Largo."
Starting next week, two-hour canal cruises will be offered several times per day on the African Queen, and six-passenger dinner cruises on selected nights, from the Holiday Inn Key Largo at mile marker 100, Oceanside, on the Florida Keys Overseas Highway.
