P&O Branch boats

[Pete Leonard (Bruno)]

A great deal of my sea time was spent with P&O and I remember a lot of the old hands talking about the pre war ships. One thing that often came up was the so called Branch Boats. I never did take that much notice of this at the time but I wondered if anyone knows what they were talking about.
Pete

[Doc Vernon]

Hi Pete
This may assist your question

P&O Branch Line was formed to cover the Australian service. In 1914, the Australasian United Steam Navigation Company was acquired and amalgamation took place between P&O and the British India Steam Navigation Company.

Early in the 20th century the P&O line was very interested in obtaining a share of the England-Australia traffic via the Cape of Good Hope and after purchasing a competitor decided the fleet they inherited was old and run-down and could not effectively compete with White Star and the Aberdeen Line services.

P&O decided to construct five new ships, the first, Ballarat was delivered in 1911, all by 1914. The ships were designed along utilitarian lines and offered a one class service aimed at emigrants rather than the tourism trade.

In 1914 the British government did not consider the service via the Cape of Good Hope to be essential, thus the Branch Service ships could be requisitioned for war service. The class saw extensive service in the First World War

Remarks:
23/09/1911: Ballarat Launched by Mrs F C Allen, wife of the manager of the P&O Branch Line. When P&O bought Lund’s Blue Anchor Line’s emigrant service via the Cape in 1910, they immediately ordered five new ships, of which BALLARAT was the first, with improved accommodation aimed at a higher quality of emigrant. P&O took over the service complete, renaming it the Branch Line (hence the Australian “B” names used for their new tonnage), and running it separately from their other ships because Australian regulations required allwhite crews.




Cheers

[Pete Leonard (Bruno)]

Thank you for that Vernon.
What a mine of information you are
Cheers
Pete

[Richard Quartermaine]

Hi Pete

The MV Coramba was a AUSN branch line cargo ship. I sailed on her from Sydney to Fremantle and back via ports in 1949.

Here is my Discharge Certificate.

[Maxonian]

Pete,

The last set of 5 Branch boats, the 'Ballarat' ,'Baradine' (1921), 'Barrapool','Balranald', & 'Bendigo' (1923) were all coal fired and were enlarged versions of the earlier class with permanent accommodation raised to 490 Third and improved appearance. They were all built by H & W , 3 at Belfast and 2 on the Clyde. They were of 13,000 tons 520 x 64 and of 14 knots. In 1929/30 they were converted to oil and that gave them an extra knot. the passenger complement was reduced, but the standard of accommodation was improved. The Cape Route was abandonned in the late 20's. Migration to Australia rapidly fell away in the last years of the 1920's, and the vessels although in wonderful condition were all disposed of by 1936 for scrapping.

As an interesting aside from this, whilst researching my wife's family history it turned up that her Grandfather (himself a retired Captain from Manchester Liners) emigrated to Australia in 1927 on board 'Bendigo', but she lost a screw and had to put into Las Palmas, and unfortuately had to return to Falmouth on one prop. The passengers were not allowed to disembark, but were held on board until the 'Balranald' arrived on the next scheduled service. It was the last week in October and it was by all accouints an uncomfortable few days spent in Falmouth, but the occpants were full of praise for the entertainment laid on by P & O.
You will find a good selection of pictures of these fleets on the Photoships website.
Regards,
Ray Llloyd