Jambo all,
Re: Adolfo's post about super dock in Dar...
Yes the Karanja ... I sailed from Madras (then) to Port Blair with her - she
was renamed Nancowry by then, bought at the kilo price of scrap metal by the
SCI. My sister and I were eager to visit the Andamans, which were not a very
touristic place at that time (early 1981) - there was just one 5* (& pbly less)
hotel just outside Pt Blair, on the beach. Other bona fide accommodation was
courtesy of the insular TDC and varied between basic and grubby, and
universally overpriced. But you had always the place all to yourself. Getting
a restricted area permit was no joke, but as I was befriended with the Dutch
consular officer in new Delhi we obtained it within a week.
And we even got a bonus, thanks to the erratic schedule of the ship: an
unplanned callr on Car Nicobar, then entirely out of bounds to foreigners (and
even Indians I believe) where the captain took us, with a few other 'selected'
guests, thru the island to look at a very famous tree with two trunks (or
something like that, it was night too). On the way we simply drove across the
airfield where Indian sea surveillance planes were stationed: re-conditionned
Super Constellations with a gigantic appendix of a radar on their roofs. very
eery sight under a full moon ... a plane spotter's dream.
The ship itself was a marvel. I joked that she possessed the only dry cleaner
in India (at the time). She had apparently been pressed 'as is where is' into
SCI service, the bar - which had very limited hours, and none of them very
happy - still sporting pictures bare breasted African dancing beauties - it was
also still named 'Kilimanjaro'. First class passage cost Rs 880 and the cabins
were rather spartan. Dormitory class was pbly even more so, but there was no
strict separation of passengers (though 3rd class ones were not admitted in the
'Kilimanjaro' ). Food was extra - and the two extra meals due to the
unscheduled stop at Car were duly surcharged - and the wine list had remained
behind with the British India Shipping Co. Most, if not all first class
passengers were rather dour looking, IMFL abstaining babus send into exile for
due to some unfortunate twist in office politics. 3rd class passengers were a
lot merrier and we shared with them great film evenings on the cargo deck
.
And disembarkment at Port Blair was, just as in Adolfo's East Africa, bwo
launches.
The trip also resulted in a year long friendship with her captain, with
outliers all the way to Rotterdam and Narvik, but those stories are for another
time ...
Two stories about that marvellous ship, who ended as a troop transport for the
Indian 'special military operation' in Sri Lanka before being cut in pieces on
some beach in Gujarat.
Karanja:
https://wesaidgotravel.com/kenya-to-india-memories-and-an-old-friend-from-the-s-s-karanja/
Nancowry:
https://www.parani.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=99:my-first-trip-to-the-ship-s-bridge&catid=90&Itemid=548
Enjoy! Sail away! Cheers,
p+7D!
