Eastern voyages
by Published on 5th October 2016 02:53 AM
Even writing a letter to far-off Hong Kong seemed like an adventure for a 14-year-old schoolboy like me. It was 1962 and I mailed off a request to the China Navigation Co. Ltd offices in Hong Kong. Weeks later, there was a reply – a large envelope containing deck plans, sailing schedules and rate sheets for the combo liners Changsha & Taiyuan. There was little for the smaller Anking & Anshun, however, since these ships were used in the charter trades, often carrying ****** pilgrims to and from Jeddah. When China Navigation began its post-Second World War rebuilding program in 1945, eighteen vessels were ordered and ten of these were passenger-cargo ships.
Two of these ships, the Anking & Anshun, were intended specifically for the China Coast-Singapore service carrying large numbers of Chinese laborers. They were designed with quarters for fifty cabin passengers and 1,000 tween deck. The Anking was built at Greenock, in Scotland, in 1950 while the Anshun was constructed a world away, at the Taikoo Dockyard in Hong Kong. Changes followed with the ships being used in Hong Kong–Pacific islands service as well as carrying religious pilgrims to and from Jeddah. They endured for some twenty years with the Anking being sold in 1970 to the Singapore-based Straits Steamship Company, renamed as the Klias. Used in service to Borneo, she endured for another six years before being damaged while docking at Singapore in 1976 and soon after being sold for scrap. The Anshun lasted far longer. Sold in 1971 to Pakistan’s Pan Islamic Steamship Company and being renamed Safina-E-Abid, she sailed mostly in pilgrim service until broken up at Gadani Beach in Pakistan in 1991.
The 7,412-grt Changsha was China Navigation’s largest ship and pride when she was delivered by Greenock shipbuilders in 1949. An identical sister, the 440ft-long Taiyuan, followed shortly thereafter. These ships were used on the long-haul run between Sydney, Melbourne, other Australian ports to Okinawa and Hong Kong. Exceptionally spacious ships, they had berthing for 40 first- and 42 tourist-class passengers (later amended to 82 first-class and 70 third-class passengers). A prized amenity onboard – the first-class dining room was air-conditioned (a feature later extended to several first-class cabins as well).
Victims of airline competition as well as the rise of container shipping, the Changsha was sold off in 1969 to the Pacific International Lines, becoming the Kota Panjang. Mostly, she traded between Hong Kong, Canton, Penang and Singapore, but also made voyages with Chinese workers to and from East Africa. She was scrapped in Pakistan in 1981. Also added by Pacific International in 1972, the Taiyuan became the Kota Sahabat, but for mostly tourist service between Australia and Fiji. That service failed, however, and the ship refitted to carry Australian sheep to Middle East ports. The ex-Taiyuan was scrapped at Kaohsiung on Taiwan in 1980.
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