The ship, the lady and the lake - Meriel Larken

Here is a vivid account of Meriel Larken's incredible questto restore the Yavari steamship against the oddsa ship that isnow celebrating its 150 year anniversary in 2012. In 1862 the English-built Yavari was taken to bits and shipped to South America. In an epic logistical feat it was carried in thousands of pieces, by mule, up the Andes to Lake Titicaca, 12,500 feet above sea level, the world's highest navigable waterway. She was reconstructed and formore thana century plied her trade up and down the lake, but by 1985 she was a sad rotting hulkuntil she was found by Larken, who led the quest to project to restore and preserve the ship. The oldest single screw iron passenger ship in the world, this nautical and engineering jewel is now a major Peruvian tourist attraction.