Lives of the liners: Eastern waters

[Doc Vernon]

China-Nav-MS-Anking-1950.jpg

In our new book First Class Cargo, the topic is combination passenger-cargo ships. Among those included are the ships of the Hong Kong-based China Navigation Co Ltd. It sparked memories with our good friend Gordon Cooper:



​I sailed on the Anshun ​as a 4th Officer (Deck/Navigation) with my brand new 2nd Mates Certificate. Joined her in Hong Kong after her bi-annual refit, for her service on charter to the Malay Govt carrying hajiis to Jeddah from Malaysia and East Malaysia/Borneo

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W​e actually carried 1149 pilgrims in the tween-decks, and the cabins you mentioned. Some of those cabins were used for some of the extra 100 Malay crew signed on for the care of the pilgrims.



They installed a temporary wooden hospital on one of the aft hatches on top of the covers, to treat the pilgrims with 2 doctors signed on. Each voyage (3 to Jeddah and 3 back) we’d have both births and deaths. Any child born en-route to Jeddah would not only add the word “Haji” to their official name, but also add the Chinese ship’s name Anshun to their official name, by Malay custom.



Built as standard cargo/passenger ships originally for the Henderson Line’s trade to the pirate infested waters of the Irrawaddy Delta in what was then Burma the accommodation block could be closed off from the cargo decks with steel doors and there was a gun-rack for rifles in the chart-room.



With so many pilgrims aboard, who needed to wash hands and feet before praying five times a day, as is ****** custom, we needed lots of fresh water. The lower holds were coated in cement wash and used at fresh water tanks. When the Haj was over she’d go back to Hong Kong for another quick re-fit to carry fresh water, and Chinese workers (almost slaves) again in the open tween decks, down to Nauru, then the British Phosphate Islands. The workers, required to dig/mine guano (fertilizer) were exchanged with workers going on leave, and the lower holds were loaded with guano for the return trip. Imagine sleeping/living for a few days above lower holds full of aromatic (potentially explosive) bird poop!

[j.sabourn]

To think I gave all that up to continue a further 7 years with Runcimans. What year did they start putting the Union Jack on the side, was that after the Yangste incident with HMS Amythest think that was about 1950 or thereabouts. The 4 letter signal hoist she is flying must be her signal letters, I just cant read them all, eyes must be getting worse. Cheers JS

[Peter F Chard]

Hi Doc, I too sailed on this ship, I posted a long diatribe some time ago regarding the infestation problems we experienced and the problems we had finding somewhere with the facilities to tackle such a huge task. We tried just about every port between Chittagong and Australia and finished up in Adelaide for fumigation. They did an amazing job, a total of 45 truck loads, each 8 cubic metres of dead Bombay beetles. The whole of the lower hold of number two hatch was over a metre deep with these beetles. I never sailed on a pilgrim ship again !! Regards Peter in NZ.