The Niagara was built around 1898 and started its working life as a passenger boat for the Anglo-American Line. In 1916 it was commandeered to transport wounded ANZAC troops from the battle field at Romani along the Suez Canal to the hospitals in Port Said. Its history after World War I is a bit hazy but at some time or other it was given to King Farouk as a gift. In turn, King Farouk gave the boat to his wife Queen Farida and it was given her name.

In 1952 the Egyptian monarchy fell to a revolution and the boat was taken by the new Egyptian Government. It retained ownership of the boat until 1968 when it was sold. From then, ownership of the boat changed several times but it always remained in private hands. It has now been reregistered as the Niagara, returning to it original name.

An alternative use would be as a day cruiser operating from Luxor or from Aswan. There is nothing similar working in Upper Egypt as there are now only three working steam boats on the river and they travel between Luxor and Aswan on weekly cruises rather than on day trips along the river. Travelling to Dandera and back on a day cruise on an old paddle steamer could be both exciting for the tourist and profitable for the operator. Especially as the the tourist profile is about to be raised. If period costume could be offered to complete the experience few tourists would be able to resist a journey back into Egypt's more recent past.