P&O Service - Strathmore 1936-49

[mgmaniac]

Hi. My father-in-law, James Thomas Simpson (11/11/1911) unfortunately died last week and we are trying to piece together his service in the 30s & 40s. We have his log book R170282 where it shows wartime service on the Strathmore, but he always talked about the Strathmore as a Passenger Ship rather than a Troop Carrier. He acted as a steward, butcher & cook at sometime in his service w2hich ended in 1950.
Is there anyone out there who would have served with Jim? My wife & I would be most grateful for any info about his earlier service, as his original logbook was lost due to enemy action.
Many thanks n...... Graham

[Doc Vernon]

Hi Graham
Would just like to give you a warm Welcome to this very good site!
Here you will find lots of info,good Crew and with luck also find a few old Shipmates!
So sit back,relax and just enjoy the trip!
Hope we will have you here for a long time!
A site truly worthy of the British Merchant Navy!
Cheers

Very sorry to hear of your Dad in Laws passing,its always sad to loose one of the Crew so to speak!
I hope that you will soon get a bit more info on what you want!
Cheers and Condolences to all concerned!

Nice site here about her!

http://www.poships.co.uk/Strathmore.html

http://www.simplonpc.co.uk/PO_Strathmore_1935.html

http://www.ozhoo.com.au/~strathsiste...more/index.htm

[alf corbyn]

hi mgmaniac?. you must like sports cars. the strathmore was one of five P&O ships known as the five white ladies. they were all passenger ships converted for war. the strathmore, strathaird, stratheden,
strathallen and strathnaver. the strathallen was i believe an armed merchant cruiser and was sunk. her gang way was at the tower of london leading down to the beach i was on the stratheden. cheers. alf

[smithlanger]

sounds good to me

[smith111]

The British Merchant Navy comprises the British merchant ships that transport cargo and people during time of peace and war.

For long periods of the last millennium, the Merchant Navy had the largest merchant fleet in the world, but it has slipped down the rankings. Today, there are 429 ships of 1,000 Gross Register Tonnage (GRT) or over, making a total of 9,181,284 GRT (9,566,275 tons deadweight (DWT)). These are split into the following types: bulk carrier 18, cargo 55, chemical tanker 48, container 134, liquefied gas 11, passenger 12, passenger/cargo 64, petroleum tanker 40, refrigerated cargo 19, roll on/roll off 25, vehicle carrier 3. There are also 446 ships registered in other countries, and 202 foreign-owned ships registered in the UK.

[Ian Aldous]

Hi Graham

Not much use, I'm afraid but I was 4/O in Strathmore in 1960. Her maiden voyage was in 1935 but she served as a troopship throughout WW2 reverting to passenger service afterwards when returned to P&O by the MOWT (Ministry of War Transport). So the period 1936 - 49 was a 'sandwich' of P&O passenger traffic at start and finish and a few years of War Service in the middle.

Most of the original P& O staff, at all levels, remained with the ship during the war period.

Welcome, by the way.

Regards

Ian

[theknight]

may his soul rest in peace.... it always hurt when a nation serving person leaves us