The Alwyn Vintcent laid up in Cape Town in 2006. Photo's by Dylan Knott.

The Alwyn Vintcent, ended her days in Cape Town harbour. She had been bought by the South African Cultural History Museum in 1988 and returned to Cape Town in 1989 where she was restored and recommissioned in 1991. She was then used during the summer months to take tourists out into Table Bay and around the Duncan Dock and the old Victoria Basin. Operating costs and an ever declining steam plant resulted in the installation of a Caterpillar diesel alongside her old plant. Her days as an excursion vessel ended in 2001 when she was decommissioned. Sadly she was not able to compete with more trendy (and safer looking) excursion boats and by late 2006 she seemed to have been abandoned to the seagulls and it was expected that she was to be scrapped unless a suitable buyer came along.
In April 2008 she was sold into Australian private ownership and was destined to be taken to Australia to be put back into service. Preservation was ongoing at the time of writing and the future of the vessel seemed secure. However, in March 2009 I was told that the Australian purchaser had had a stroke in 2008 and had not been heard of since December 2008 and the fate of this vessel was once more in the balance.
One of 5 sisters built by Cantieri Navali e Officiene Meccaniche de Venezia, she was 83 feet long with a beam of 20 feet. Powered by single expansion steam engines, the sisters (Willam Weller, Alwyn Vintcent, SJ Harrison, Cecil G White, JE Eaglesham) entered service in 1959.
In late 2010 developments took another turn, and it seems as if she would be saved after all, having been bought by the Villiersdorp Branch of the West Cape Tractor & Engine club. Their plan is to transport her by road to a dry-land resting place in Villiersdorp. The move is scheduled for mid 2011. and she will initially stand in the yard of Dennis Viljoen Engineering in Villiersdorp while the reassembly and restoration takes place, after which a decision will be made where she will stand. The plan is to bring her back to steaming condition on dry land with the planned unveiling for August 2013. More information can be found at her new webpage.