by magoonigal » Sun Sep 16, 2012 12:55 am
Other photographs suggest that the characters were only added towards the very end of her time. A picture taken in September 1951 shows no writing and she arrived Blyth on the 1st April 1952.
Saturday, November 15, 2008 10:24
In answer to Mary Glanville (November 8, 2008): I'm afraid I don't recall John Hine or your late husband, but what a bonus to see my old ship ss Tairea. I have attached a photo I took in September 1951 of Tairea at anchor in Penang. I was a cadet on Purnea when I first saw Tairea at berth in Calcutta in July 1951 - it was love at first sight. The next morning I went up to Mackinnon & Mackenzie office and asked the Marine Superintendant, Captain Rankin (easy access in those days) to transfer to Tairea. His only comment "Naming your ship - eh?" Two days later I was transferred to Tairea, I would be the last Cadet. I made three trips between Calcutta and Japan. On my first trip, we took the last of the Japanese High Command that had been in prison camps in Burma back to Japan, about 50 in all under the supervision of two British prison guards. After three voyages to the Far East I was promoted to Acting Third Officer. We made a couple of trips to Chittagong, then prepared Tairea for her final voyage from Calcutta back to the U.K for scrapping. A sad voyage, even the passenger cabins were stuffed with cargo. As we approached our berth in London's Royal Albert Dock, Captain Curley Lewis asked me where I would be going for my second mates ticket, I said I would probably be transferred to another ship.
"How old are you, Humphreys?" "Nearly 18, Sir." Poor Curley nearly had a heart attack. Two weeks later, I was heading back to Bombay acting Third on Goalpara.
It's more than 56 years since I sailed on Tairea, I have been a ship owner for 36 years and owned quite a few ships, but, the Tairea................there was a ship. A graceful three funnel - 17 knot steamer, sailing down the Hoogly, a full cargo for the Far East, 900 deck passengers for Rangoon, Gurkha troops for Penang and Singapore and assorted Sahibs and Mem-sahibs for Hong Kong. Even the cadet had a bar tab at the "Pig & Whistle", no wonder I loved that ship.
David Humphreys, US, Friday, December 16, 2011 17:17:28 -0600
In answer to Jagdip Singh, November 19, 2011 It seems we were both onboard ss Tairea on her last voyage from Calcutta to the Far East in October 1951. After you disembarked in Hong Kong we continued on our usual schedule to Kobe and Yokohama, before returning to Calcutta via the same ports as our eastbound voyage. Like yourself, I am fortunate to be still working and in the same business as when I sailed on Tairea. If you scroll back on the BI logbook to November 15, 2008, I have briefly documented my time onboard Tairea between July 1951 and March 28, 1952 when she was delivered to the breakers in Blyth. Our arrival in London 5 days earlier was the first time Tairea had been in her home port since she was built almost 30 years earlier. No “Welcome home” – just a stevedore foreman looking for a cargo plan.
Paul Hood. + WSS Tyneside Branch Hon Sec.