The Calcutta and Burmah Steam Navigation Company (C&BSN) was a British steamship company formed in 1856 and absorbed into the British-India Steam Navigation Company in 1862.
21-518: British India Steam Navigation Company (" BI ") was formed in 1856 as the Calcutta and Burmah Steam Navigation Company . The Calcutta and Burmah Steam Navigation Company had been formed out of Mackinnon, Mackenzie & Co, a trading partnership of the Scots William Mackinnon and Robert Mackenzie , to carry mail between Calcutta and Rangoon . It became British India SN Co in 1862. Under
42-539: A crew of 122. She and her sisters were described as "ships of transport, cargo plus passengers – comfortable but not luxurious, dependable but not speedy – appropriately functional for their time". Dwarka entered service in June 1947, joining Dumra on BI's route between Bombay (now Mumbai ) and the Persian Gulf . When Dara was completed in June 1948, she joined them on the same route. The fourth sister, Daressa , joined
63-558: A long history of service to the British and Indian governments through trooping and other military contracts. In the last decade of its operational existence BI carried thousands of school children on educational cruises. Mantola was sunk in February 1917 by a torpedo from a German submarine off the coast of Ireland with a substantial cargo of silver bullion. The cargo ship Gairsoppa , carrying silver bullion , pig iron and tea, which
84-583: The frigate HMS Nubian supervised the exchange. In 1971 Dwarka joined the General Cargo Division of BI's parent company P&O . Ownership of Dwarka was transferred to P&O on 19 April 1973, but transferred back to BI on 30 May 1975. In 1979 Dwarka was refitted in Singapore . Her holds were fitted with refrigeration plant , and her passenger accommodation was revised to 52 cabin class, 534 berthed, and 533 deck passengers. Toward
105-467: The company owned more than 500 ships and managed 150 more for other owners. At its height in 1922, BI had more than 160 ships in the fleet, many built on Clydeside , Scotland . The main shipping routes of the line were: Britain to India , Australia , Kenya , Tanganyika . The company ran services from India to Pakistan , Ceylon , Bay of Bengal , Singapore , Malaya , Java , Thailand , Japan , Persian Gulf , East Africa and South Africa . BI had
126-549: The end of her career, Dwarka , under the command of Captain GA Hankin, featured in two films. In 1979 the BBC made a television documentary as part of the series The World About Us called "Dwarka: An Arabian Voyage". It documented a voyage from Mumbai, calling at Karachi, taking migrant workers to countries in the Persian Gulf . This illustrated the ship's unique historic status, and reportedly prompted renewed interest in her from around
147-483: The following ships:- SS Dwarka MV Dwarka was a British India Steam Navigation Company passenger and cargo ship that operated between the Indian subcontinent and Persian Gulf . She was in service from 1947 until 1982. She was the second of four "modern D Class" sister ships built between 1946 and 1950, and the only one of the four to be built by Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson at Low Walker . She
168-472: The hand of Lord Inchcape , who had become chairman in 1913, the company became part of the P&;O group of companies in 1914 through a complex amalgamation , but continued with its own identity and organisation for another nearly 60 years until 1972, when it was entirely absorbed into P&O. P&O was eventually sold to Emirati logistics company DP World in 2006. As one of the largest shipowners of all time,
189-531: The public. Services were to commence on or before 15 November 1856. The contract was renewed in 1862, when the service was extended to Singapore . From October 1862, the C&;BSN served Akyab, Bimlipatam , Calcutta, Chittagong , Coconada , Curlew Island , Kurrachee , Kyook Phyoo , Madras , Malacca , Mergui , Moulmen, Negapatam , Penang , Pondicherry , Poorie , Port Blair , Rangoon, Sandoway , Singapore, Tavoy and Vizagapatam . In November 1862 its name
210-400: The same route when she was completed in June 1950. On 20 September 1953, there was a dispute among some of the deck passengers about the price of food. Two Somalian deck passengers killed three crewmen, and injured 11, before they were restrained. On 12 December 1959 Dwarka left Muscat for Bombay. A few hours later a bomb exploded under a bed in one of her passenger cabins. The target
231-466: The ship on 25 June 1947. The ship's lengths were 398.6 ft (121.5 m) overall and 382.3 ft (116.5 m) registered. Her beam was 54.8 ft (16.7 m), her depth was 23.6 ft (7.2 m), and her depth was 21 ft 11 in (6.68 m). Her tonnages were 4,851 GRT , 2,672 NRT , and 4,525 DWT . She had a single screw , driven by a Doxford five-cylinder opposed piston two-stroke diesel engine . It
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#1732852259391252-521: The world. In 1981 Richard Attenborough 's biographical film Gandhi used Dwarka for several location shoots in Mumbai, portraying much earlier BI ships. Dwarka was the last survivor of the four D-class ships. Dara had caught fire and sunk in 1961, Daressa was scrapped in 1974, and Dumra was scrapped in 1979. On 15 May 1982 Dwarka reached Mumbai at the end of her final voyage. On 23 May Zulfiqar Metals of Pakistan bought her for scrap. She
273-710: Was changed to British India Steam Navigation Company (Limited) [BISNCo.]. Robert Mackenzie had died in 1853, even before the company had been formed but William Mackinnon, who was chairman of the shipowning companies from the earliest years until his death in 1893, is considered the 'father' of the company. He was created baronet in 1889. At the time of its inauguration and for many years afterwards, C&BSN and then BISNCo. were supervised by Mackinnon, Mackenzie & Co as Managing Agents. This company acquired many trading interests during its life, including tea , jute and management of BI's coal mines in India. The C&BSN operated
294-570: Was formed in London , United Kingdom in 1856. Its directors were J. Halliday, William Mackinnon and Robert Mackenzie. It was founded with an initial capital fo £35,000 in 700 £50 shares. The company was set up to provide a steamship service between Calcutta , India and Moulmein , Burma and the intermediate ports of Akyab and Rangoon , on behalf of the Honourable East India Company , with any spare accommodation being offered to
315-543: Was leaving Muscat when there was an explosion in her number one hold, injuring one person. Damage was minor, and the ship continued her voyage to Karachi . During the Indo-Pakistani war of 1965 , Dwarka met another BI motor ship, Santhia , in Muscat to exchange passengers. Dwarka ' s Indian passengers were transferred to Santhia , and Santhia ' s Pakistani passengers were transferred to Dwarka . Omani police and
336-533: Was rated at 894 NHP or 4,200 bhp , and gave her a speed of 13 + 1 ⁄ 2 knots (25 km/h). Her navigation equipment included wireless direction finding , and an echo sounding device. By 1959 it also included radar . BI registered Dwarka in London . Her UK official number was 181650 and her call sign was GCKS. Dwarka ' s cargo capacity was 212,384 cubic feet (6,014 m ). As built, she had capacity for 1,591 passengers: 13 first class, 41 second class and 1,537 deck class. She had
357-529: Was sunk at great depth by the German submarine U-101 in February 1941 some 300 nautical miles (560 km; 350 mi) southwest of Galway Bay , Ireland, carried the richest cargo of any sunken ship in world history. Some of the company's better known passenger ships included Rajula , Dunera , Scindia , Sirdhana , Leicestershire , Dwarka , Dumra , the sister ships Kampala and Karanja , and Kenya and Uganda , and Dara , which
378-484: Was sunk by a terrorist bomb in 1961. Nevasa of 1956 was the final passenger ship built for BI. Serving as a troopship until redundant in 1962, Nevasa was assigned new duties with the BI educational cruise ship flotilla until 1974, when she became uneconomic due a four fold increase in crude oil prices and was scrapped in 1975 having earlier been joined in this trade by the more economic Uganda . The highly popular Uganda
399-717: Was taken up ( STUFT ) by the British Ministry of Defence in 1982 as a hospital ship during the Falklands War with Argentina . Returning to BI's tradition of government service again in 1983 – this time as a troopship – Uganda was "the last BI" when finally withdrawn in 1985. Dwarka holds the distinction of closing British-India's true "liner" services, when withdrawn from the company's Persian Gulf local trades in 1982, in her 35th year. [REDACTED] Source: Calcutta and Burmah Steam Navigation Company The Calcutta and Burmah Steam Navigation Company (Limited)
420-644: Was the Minister of the Interior of Muscat and Oman , Sayed Ahmed bin Ibrahim. The cabin caught fire, and the minister suffered burns and severe shock . The resident Royal Navy officer in Bahrain , Commander Roger Fisher, was also aboard, and rescued bin Ibrahim from the cabin. The minister was taken ashore and admitted to the US mission hospital at Muttrah . On 19 June 1961 Dwarka
441-483: Was the third BI ship to be named after Dwarka , an ancient city of religious significance in the state of Gujarat , on India 's northwest coast. The first was a steamship that was built in 1894 and scrapped in 1920. The second was a motor ship that was built in 1922 and scrapped in 1937. Swan, Hunter built the ship at Low Walker as yard number 1828. Mrs GF Hotblack, the wife of one of one of BI's Directors, launched her on 25 October 1946. Swan, Hunter completed
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