On Thursday, October 1, the vessel returned to the water following several months of restoration works after it sank in May for a second time.
Built by Britannia Ironworks in Melbourne 144 years ago, the Amphibious is the second-oldest wooden boat in Australia.
It underwent a massive overhaul to be operated as a showboat in South Australia — plying the Port River west of Adelaide until 1971. It later sank in the river at Port Adelaide in 1978.
All the repairs have been overseen by new owner Lou Iannacone, who couldn’t have been happier to see his pride and joy refloated.
“It has been a magnificent day,” he said.
“A lot of people have helped us to get to this point and I’m really excited to be able to share this moment with people.
“We’ve had a few challenges along the way, but the biggest was probably trying to get all the mud out.”
While the boat might have returned to the water, Lou said he still had big plans to improve the Amphibious.
“We’re going to some work on the interior of the boat,” he said.
“The cabins need a bit of work and we need to replace 73 light sockets.
“Once that’s done, we’re going to open it up to tourism within hopefully three months.
“We want to get people back on board because I think that’s the boat’s best purpose.
“I look forward to sharing the Amphibious with a lot of people.”
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