MARK TWAIN'S LOST STEAMERS.

By David Dell

     In December 1866 Mark Twain went across Lake Nicaragua, and in his book "Travels with Mr. Brown" he does mention seeing two lost steamers in the jungle. The author owns copy number 948, of the limited first edition of 1750, of the book. Which was first published many years after Twain's death. Mark Twain wonders how these two passenger carrying paddle steamers  ended up there.The author, in 2003, went on several expeditions and eventually found both boats and possibly how the first steamer ended up beached inside the jungle.

     The beaching of the vessel, later discovered to be named the "Alvarado" took place just as Mark Twain described, some miles west of the tiny hamlet of Saballos. Rio San Juan River historian,  Max Harrison Williams, in his book; "Gateway Through Central America," discovered the name and fate of this vessel. 

     The author, David Dell,  first surmised that the boat was beached because of an outbreak of Yellow Fever. This disease was rampant at the time. If a boat arrived at a landing place with the disease, the authorities would refuse landing permission and send the unfortunate boat and its passengers back to their port of departure on the river. At the port of departure , the same thing would happen-refusal to land. So the boat may have been  forced to find a place on the river to stop and wait for the disease to run its course

David Dell, along with translator Stephen Hunter and local businessman Alfonso Llanes, gathered together a group of local men and cleared away the jungle around the stricken vessel.

    The search, for what would have been many graves proved fruitless. Still photographs and video were taken for posterity. 

     This was a dangerous task as this swampy jungle would have been fertile ground for many of Nicaraguas deadly snakes.  Max Harrison Williams did discover from archives in Costa Rica, that the boat had sprung a leak. and the only solution was to run it aground on a sandbank on the river. There the Alvarado sat and rusted until it was spyed by the eagle eye of one Mark Twain. And then uncovered almost a hundred and fifty years later by the author.

Author David Dell, found the second steamer at Diamante Falls east of El Castillo. Amusingly, on the search for the second steamer, the guide boat captain swore there were no wrecks on this part of the river. He boastfully claimed in his forty years of travelling the Rio San Juan, every wreck's location was known to him.Well, there was one very important wreck he obviously did not know about. Author Dell, was scouring the banks of the river through the viewfinder of his video camera and spotted a dark shape behind some thick bamboo growth. Precariously, the captain steered his small boat across the fast flowing river to the island. With the crew holding the boat steady, Dell scampered up the muddy bank and disappeared into the jungle. Ten seconds later he yelled, "There's a boiler, there's a boiler." They had discovered Mark Twain's second, "lost steamer." 

    The identity of this second Mark Twain steamer still remains a mystery.

    This vessel was exactly as Twain described , having an island grow around it. As you can see from the photographs it had enormous pistons and most of the ironwork was still remarkably intact given the nature of tropical river conditions.

     All present resisted the temptation to remove some artefact as a keepsake. This was a Nicaraguan and a World historic site and they all felt it should not be plundered in any shape or form.

     The site is being guarded to this day in a very organic way- very close to this location are some rocky outcrops - very dangerous to small boats, and possibly the reason behind the vessel's demise. But more importantly, the rocky outcrops are the residence of numerous freshwater crocodiles.

Pictured above is a refurbished steering wheel. Author Dell found it submerged and apparently abandoned near the dock of the EL CASTILLO fort. He cleaned it and had some local carpenters replace the wooden handgrips. The manufacturer of the steering wheel;  American steam boat builder's Wilcox & Crittenden, of Connecticutt, possibly made the very wheel that Twain handled on his trip in 1866. (Ok, a bit of a stretch) In 2003, Dell, with Ex-Nicaraguan President Violetta Chamorro's son, Pedro Chamorro, found the wreck of the Hollenbeck in the waters off the Solentiname islands in Lake Nicaragua. Below  is a colourized version of the paddle steamer "Hollenbeck." We do not know what steamers Twain used on his trip, It might well have been the Hollenbeck.

    The story of how author Dell  found The steamer, The HOLLENBECK that Mark Twain used, will be featured later in a Youtube Video. 

     PIctured below is the picturesque and highly historic fort of El CASTILLO. This was the site of Lord Nelson's first victory and where he lost the use of one of his eyes. The hill to the right of this photo is still called Nelson's Hill.

     Author Dell found one of the many cannon balls that litter the place and offered to send it to the British Naval Museum in Portsmouth. His offer was not accepted. Later Dell wondered why and checked the email he sent. He realises his wording could have been better phrased:

Dell said, "I have an artefact I would like to donate from Nicaragua, I believe it might be one of Lord Nelsons Balls"

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