The D Class

Anybody who has sailed with BI knows about the Gulf Ds, the Dumra, Dwarka Dara and Daressa. I am writing now about the ships built for BI, with these names, between 1946 and 1950 I will cover their predecessors at another time.

No ships had been built for the Persian Gulf mail service since the B and V classes just before the First World War. All were worn out by strenuous service in two global conflicts, so one of the most important needs was a new fleet for this important service. The result was the famous, or to some infamous D class of four ships which introduced a new silhouette and standard in the Gulf, although retaining many characteristic features. There was a short forecastle with a raked soft-nosed stem, then an equally short well-deck at No.1 hatch followed by a long shelter deck running aft to the cruiser stern. This deck was open at the mainmast in the first two ships but plated in the last two. Three tiers of deckhouses rose amidships and the double-banked boats there and aft reflected the provision for deck passengers. For the 1st class passengers there was a lounge and library forward and a smoke room and bar aft on the promenade deck

The low funnel was set close abaft the bridge and raked in symmetry with the two masts, which carried double sets of derricks working the four hatches. Although the Ds were a sturdy, workman like design, they fully justified the mini-liner description they acquired in later years.

The lead builders of the D class were Barclay, Curle & Co. whose Whiteinch yard was responsible for three of the four ships. The first to be completed was the Dumra, delivered in December 1946. For some years she ran alongside the older vessels but after completion of the Daressa in 1950 the run settled down with each ship spending a week in Bombay, followed by calls at Karachi, Gwadur or Pasni, Muscat, Bandar Abbas, Sharjah or Dubai, Mena al Ahmadi for bunkers, Kuwait, Bushire, Khorramshahr and then two or three nights in Basra before returning to Bombay via the same ports. The Bombay to Bombay voyage duration was three weeks and the four Ds provided a weekly sailing from Bombay. The ships had a huge water consumption, exacerbated by widespread water pilferage at every way port and the consequent loss of bottom weight meant that the ships became unstable about the Bahrein to Mena stage of each voyage. This was corrected by giving permanent stone ballast to each ship.

Dumra

4,876 gross tonnage, 2,669 n, 4,615 dw. 382.3 (398.7oa) x 54.8 x 23.6 dft 22.0 ft.
1 x 5-cyl. 2S.C.S.A. Doxford diesel by the shipbuilder, 4,200 bhp, 125 rpm, 15 k (trials)
20 1st class, 30 2nd class and 1,537 deck passengers. 130 crew.
5,000 cu.ft. refrigerated space.
Launched 16/9/1946 and delivered 10/12/1946

The Dumra's service in the Gulf was without incident and when it became politic to introduce an Indian partner into the trade she was bare-boat chartered from 16th June 1972 to Damodar Bulk Carriers Ltd of Bombay. Her legal ownership passed to P&O on 19th April 1973, on the Group reorganisation, and on 7th April 1975 she was sold outright to Damodar, although the transfer was not formally effected until 15th June when she was renamed Daman. She was laid up at Bombay in May 1978 and scrapping there by Ghaziram Gokulchand & Co commenced in February 1979.

Dwarka

4,851 g, 2,672 n, 4,525 dw. 382.3 (398.7 oa) x 54.8 x 23.6 dft 21.9 ft.
Engine as for Dumra. 15.29 knots (trials)
20 1st class, 30 2nd and 1,537 deck passengers. 1977 deck passengers part replaced by 445 bunked. 1979 52 cabin, 534 bunked and 533 deck passengers. 130 crew.
6,000 c.f. refrigerated space until 1979.
Launched 25th October 1946 and delivered 25th June 1947.

Painting of Dwarka alongside
Kindly supplied by Paulo Meira de Vasconcellos of Brazil.

The longest lived, and probably best known of the Ds, was the sole Tyneside member of the group, the Dwarka, launched in October 1946 by Mrs G.F. Hotblack, wife of one of the Directors of the Company. The regularity of the Dwarka's coming and going up and down the Gulf was disturbed only when two Somali deck passengers ran amuck after a dispute over the price of food purchased between Gwadur and Karachi on 29th September 1953. Three crewmembers were killed and eleven injured before the Somalis were restrained.

This incident is described in 'B.I. Centenary' as follows: -

'She was bound from Gwadur to Karachi when, on the night of the 29th, word reached the bridge that a fight had broken out on the after deck. The Third Officer, Mr Windle, was sent to investigate, and Mr Spedding, the Chief Officer, followed him at once, to find that the Chief Engineer Officer, Mr Jamieson, and his Second, Mr Line, had also turned up to help in what was proved to be a nasty business. When they arrived on the scene, two of a small party of Aden Somalis among the passengers had run amok after some inter-racial quarrel and had already stabbed to death two Asian coal trimmers and a Hindu Vishi cook. Every light on the ship was immediately switched on, all hands mustered; and a search began.

The wild men were at length found hiding behind a winch and a free fight developed. The Chief Officer and the extra Third Officer, Mr P.G. Sutton, were stabbed; the Purser, Mr Antao, was mauled when intervening to save the Vishi manager and a general servant, both stabbed; and it became a matter of clearing the deck and holding the madmen at bay until a plan of attack was worked out. This took the form of an organised rush by the European officers, using fire extinguishers and hoses and armed with wrenches and lengths of piping, and there was another dogfight before the two Somalis were sufficiently injured to be overpowered, lashed up and carried to the bridge.

If that was not enough, a message from the engine room at 3.40am next morning reported another desperado at large in the shaft tunnel, but when another party of officers went to investigate, the worst was that the extra Second Engineer Officer, Mr H.C. Scott, was covered with the contents of a pot of red paint, his assailant presumably escaping through the escape hatch into the crew's quarters. The looting of the Cashmere by pirates 80 years before seems an almost comic episode in comparison with this night of madness, during which three members of the Asian crew were killed, two European officers and nine members of the Asian crew injured: The Chief Officer, Mr Spedding, so gravely that it was fully a year before he could resume his duties.'

As she left Muscat for Karachi on 19th June 1961, there was a minor explosion in No1 hatch and one person was injured but damage was minor and the ship resumed her voyage.

As the sole survivor on the run, the Dwarka became something of a celebrity in her later years, including being the star of a television film. She passed to P&O ownership on 19th April 1973 but the peculiarities of her route did not mesh easily with other group activities (to say nothing of officers from P&O passenger ships not feeling quite at home on her) and she reverted to BI ownership on 30th May 1975. She retained her BI colours throughout and was the last ship to cart the famous funnel markings in eastern waters, other than Mackinnon, Mackenzie ships in Indian ownership. She was finally sold on 23rd may 1982 and demolition by Zulfiqar Metal Industries was commenced at Gadani Beach on 13th June.

These photographs kindly supplied by Captain John W. Cole.

Dara

5,030 g, 2,766 n, 4,465 dw. 382.3 (398.7 oa) x 54.8 x 23.9 dft 22.0 ft.
Engine as for Dumra. 15.44 k (trials)
20 1st class, 30 2nd class A, 24 2nd class B and 1,377 deck passengers. 5,000 c.f. refrigerated space.
Launched 17/12/1947 and delivered 30/6/1948 at a cost of £570,500

The third ship, Dara, was one of those unfortunate ships whose otherwise exemplary career was overshadowed by the tragedy of her final end. She had arrived off Dubai on 7th April 1961 when a freak storm suddenly arose. The Panamanian cargo ship Zeus, anchored nearby, was driven onto the Dara's bow and Captain Charles Elson decided to take the ship out into deep water. By the following morning the conditions were easing and the Dara was headed back for Dubai, when there was a violent explosion in the shelter deck amidships. Fire was soon raging out of control throughout the centre part of the ship and she had to be abandoned. Rescue operations were led by the landing ship Empire Guillemot but over two hundred lives were lost. Since the Dara was working cargo when she put to sea there were some doubts about the number of people actually on board at the time of the incident, the best estimate being 819, and of these 212 were lost, although some estimates put the figure as high as 238. For some time it was hoped that the Dara herself might be saved but she sank in the tow of the tug Ocean Salvor five miles off the coast of Um al Quaiwan on the 10th. It was believed that the original explosion was caused by a bomb but no forensic evidence was discovered and no organisation claimed responsibility for the incident.

Daressa

5,180 g, 2,805 n, 4,260 dw. 375.0 (398.5 oa) x 54.8 x 26.5 dft 21.6 ft.
Engine as for Dumra. 16.05 k (trials)
26 1st class, 60 2nd class and 659 deck passengers. 99 one-class passengers from 1962. 10,000 c.f. refrigerated space.
Launched 3/4/1950 and delivered 27/6/1950

The last of the quartette was the Daressa, completed in 1950. The two year gap from the previous ship allowed a number of improvements to be incorporated, most notably the air-conditioning of the public rooms, a feature which was brought to the other ships when they were refitted.
As she arrived at Karachi from Basra on 4th November 1961, Daressa collided with President Arthur. She was allowed to complete her voyage to Bombay but left there on the 13th for Hong Kong, where repairs took a month.

This photograph kindly supplied by Captain Richard Teo

DARESSA 1969 (MV KIM HWA)

DRESSSED IN GOLDEN LINE(GUAN GUAN SHIPPING) COLOURS AT SINGAPORE She made one voyage to rescue refugees from Indonesia and performed well for voyages to Hong Kong and China ports.

Despite being the newest of the Ds, Daressa was the first to go, being sold on 18th August 1964 to a Chandris subsidiary, Marivic Navigation Inc., who registered her in Monrovia as the Favorita. She was transferred within the Chandris Group in 1966 to International Cruises S.A. and re-registered under the Greek flag with the intention of conversion into a cruise ship. However, after trading in eastern waters she spent most of her time laid up at Piraeus and in 1968 was sold to Guan Guan Shipping Ltd of Singapore. She traded there as Kim Hwa between Penang and Swatow until sold for scrapping in July 1974. Demolition by Fuji, Marden & Co Ltd. Commenced at Honk Kong on 5th October.