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| "ALCINOUS" - Painting by Robert Lloyd. |
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| "TALTHYBIUS" - Courtesy Chris Pownall |
Chris Pownall sailed as a junior engineer with Blue Funnel in 1967 aboard
the 'TALTHYBIUS" on voyage #43.
The picture above was taken in the
Klang River, Port Swettenham.
During a trip to the China coast he and other shipmates were
involved in a somewhat hair-raising situation with the Chinese authorities in Shanghai. He has recently completed his
memoirs which include this story amongst many others. For further information Chris may be contacted at < pownall27@btinternet.com>
Above, a fine picture from Albert Corelli of the World Ship Society. The 'CHARON' is pictured
here entering Keppel harbour from the Singapore Roads.
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| From a colour transparency by Paul Boot - Courtesy SM |
"Alfred and Philip Holt conceived the founding of The Ocean
Steam Ship Company in the garden of their father's Liverpool home. They saw this as the greatest adventure of their
lives and because the Odyssey was for them the finest adventure story ever written they gave Homeric names to all their ships.
They were courageous technical innovators: they had the vision to embrace the whole Far East in their quest despite
the initial lure of China: they demanded the highest standards of personal responsibility to match their own self-reliance
and to underpin their refusal to escape through insurance the consequences of their errors and misfortunes: and they
loved and inspired with their own sense of humanity the brotherhood of their creation.
We may all be grateful for this inheritance and proud to
have adapted and enlarged it in a fashion that our predecessors would have understood and approved. And in recognition
of our indebtedness we preserve the signature which they adopted as the embodiment of that spirit of selfless and anonymous
service which has always animated and still binds together our whole company".
Alfred Holt
1829-1911
The following text extracts were taken from the August 2003 edition of SHIPS MONTHLY. Articles and images are from the collection
of Roy Fenton. Some of these images are copyright and should not be copied or forwarded without the express permission of
the originator.
Alfred Holt was fascinated with steam engines as a boy, and served an
apprenticeship as a mechanical engineer with the Liverpool & Manchester Railway. At the time, the steam locomotive
represented the cutting edge of technology, using boiler pressures much higher than those employed in marine and stationary
engines. In 1851 a recession in the railway business led Holt to join Lamport & Holt, the shipping business
of his older brother George. He involved himself in fitting the engines in the company's ORONTES which he accompanied
on her first voyage to the Mediterranean.
In 1852, at only 23, he had the confidence to set himself up in Liverpool
as a consulting engineer. But his horizons were broader, and Holt became part owner of the steamer DUMBARTON YOUTH.
She was not exceptional, and her main claim to fame is that Holt gave her the first blue funnel. With finance
from family members, a small fleet was built up to trade with the West Indies. Competitiion proved too intense
so Holt looked to UK-Far East trade although, because of the huge distances involved, the sailing ship was seen
as unassailable in this trade. Holt proved this to be spectacularly wrong. With money from the sale of the West
Indian ships, Holt formed the Ocean Steam Ship Company which ordered three steamers from Scotts of Greenock: AGAMEMNON,
AJAX and ACHILLES. With their compound engines and the high-pressure boilers with which Holt was familiar from his locomotive
engineering, the ship's coal consumption was low enough to allow profitable voyages to China under steam. These
cargo liners were amongst the most significant ships ever built and with them Holt made a major contribution to shipping history.
Above and top left the Lifeboat Training School at Vittoria
Dock, Birkenhead in which all eligible personnel were trained to become certificated Lifeboatmen. Top Right,
the Seamanship School at Odyssey Works, Birkenhead, where all pre-sea training and training for EDH and AB certificates
was undertaken for both Midshipmen and Deck Ratings. At noon each day at sea the Master, Officers and Senior
Midshipman determined the ship's latitude by observation of the sun (No GPS here!)
Top left - the wing for residential training. Bottom
left - Instruction by a Senior Midshipman. Top right - Classroom study, the subject - Chartwork. Bottom
right - The library for quiet study & reference.
Above, a Georgian bedroom aboard ULYSSES in 1913,
a high standard of First Class accommodation.
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| Courtesy F. Leonard Jackson - SM APRIL/97 |
Blue Funnel's cadet training ship DIOMED (V)
(1956/7,980 grt) berthed at Vittoria Dock, Birkenhead
To many, Alfred Holt's Blue Funnel Line was the finest shipping company
of them all. It certainly did build fine ships, had noble traditions of service in war and peace, and set
standards by which other companies were judged. But adulation needs to be tempered with realism, as the company
had times of brilliant achievement and periods when it seemed to have lost the plot.
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| ADRASTUS - Courtesy Malcolm McLeman |
These two pictures are from the collection of Malcolm McLeman who sailed as radio officer with Blue Funnel.
ADRASTUS was built in 1954, of 7,859 GRT, 487 feet in breadth and had a service speed of 16 knots.
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| Courtesy Jim Charnock - SM AUG/03 |
The Perseus class ship ATREUS (1911), seen at Portsmouth
loading for the Far east, had a long career with Blue Funnel until sold for scrap in 1948
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| Courtesy Roy Fenton - SM AUG/03 |
H class ship HECTOR (1950/9,718 grt) passes beneath the
Sydney Harbour Bridge in this official postcard. She was typical of Holt's post-war passenger vessels.
Above, PELEUS, built in 1949 of 10,093 grt, had a service speed of 18 knots. Here she awaits a berth off the Liver Building
in the Mersey.
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| Courtesy |Roy Fenton - SM AUG/03 |
When Glen Line was acquired in 1935, its fleet was
in urgent need of new tonnage. Holt's naval architects designed a superb new class of motorships, the first of
which was GLENEARN (1938). With a few modifications, they were the basis of the numerous A class with which Blue
Funnel Line was re-equipped after World War II. Several built for Glen served Blue Funnel during their careers.
GLENGYLE of 1939 became DEUCALION, seen above in 1970, for a few voyages before being broken up.
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| Courtesy Roy Fenton - SM AUG/03 |
The NESTOR class cargo liners built for Australian services
used high pressure temperature steam in turbines. It was an attempt to reduce the size of the engines and so increase
carrying capacity, but the ships needed specialist engineers to operate them sucessfully. The 1952 built
NESTOR later carried the names GLENAFFRIC and ORESTES, and in 1971 was sold to Greek owners as AEGIS DIGNITY, being
broken up at Whampoa in 1973
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| Courtesy Roy Fenton - SM AUG/03 |
Above, the NESTOR of 1913 had a long and busy life.
During World War I she was a troopship for the Australian Expeditionary Force, and in World War II evacuated
British children to Australia. She completed her final round voyage to Australia in 1950 and was broken up at
Faslane. This photograph emphasises the size of her funnel, probably the biggest ever painted in the famous blue!
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| Courtesy Roy Fenton - SM AUG/03 |
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| Courtesy Roy Fenton - SM AUG/03 |
The launch of CALCHAS (7,639 grt) is seen above from Harland
& Wolff in 1947. The first A class ship, she was launched by the wife of Lawrence Holt, a direct descendent
of Blue Funnel's founder.
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| Picture of 'PERSEUS' by JIM CHARNOCK - SM AUG/03 |
Poignant memories outlined by Roy Fenton above will,
no doubt, revive many great images of the reader's experience of this once great company............
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| Courtesy Roy Fenton - SM AUG/03 |
The eight Liberty-types Holt bought in 1947 were a surprising
choice for a company so proud of its naval architecture and marine engineering: basic, steam-driven tramps built
quickly by the thousand. The important factor was the price: at 135,000 pounds each they were a bargain compared
with the 670,000 pounds asked for a new ship. Painted in Blue Funnel colours they looked smart, as evidenced
above by TROILUS. She gave 11 years service before being sold and was broken up in 1963. Perhaps crew being
assigned to TROILUS might not have been too happy with the accommodation which must have been spartan to say the least.
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| Courtesy Roy Fenton - SM AUG/03 |
The 30,038 grt Panamax bulk carrier HELENUS was built in
1973 for Rea Ltd, an Ocean subsidiary. In 1978 she was converted into a car carrier, as shown above,
for a five-year charter in Kawasaki funnel colours. Sold in 1983, she became the Cyprus flag SEAFARER and in
1988 reverted to a bulk carrier.
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| Courtesy Roy Fenton - SM AUG/03 |
During the Trojan war Stentor was a Greek herald with a voice
as loud as that of 50 men combined according to Homer. Blue Funnel's fourth STENTOR was one of a pair of fast
motorships laid down for the Ministry of War Transport to carry heavy items of equipment to the Far East. They were
bought at the end of the war for 673,000 pounds each and completed to Holt's specification. In 1958 STENTOR moved to
Glen Line ownership and became GLENSHIEL, reverting to STENTOR in 1963. In 1975 she suffered the indignity of having
her name truncated to TENTO to release the name for a younger vessel whilst she sailed to Kaohsiung for demolition.
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| Courtesy Roy Fenton - SM AUG/03 |
TANTALUS was one of six Victory class turbine steamers bought in 1946
from the US War Shipping Administration. In contrast to the Liberties that were bought in some numbers by British owners,
only 14 Victories came under the Red Ensign. Built in 1945 as MACMURRAY VICTORY, she first became POLYPHEMUS for
Holt's Dutch subsidiary, being renamed TANTALUS on transfer to the British flag in 1960. In Greek mythology,
Tantalus was the son of Zeus who made the mistake of divulging the god's secrets to mortals. As punishment he was plunged
up to his neck in water with a laden fruit tree just out of reach. His name is the origin of the English word tantalise.
In 1969, after a short period laid up, TANTALUS was sold to Rethymnis
and Kulukundis, renamed PELOPS under the Panamanian flag, and loaded with a cargo of scrap metal for the breaker's yards
of the Far East where she was cut up for scrap. It has been suggested that the name Pelops was actually given to the
ship before she was sold by Holts, rather than after. Whoever gave it knew their Greek mythology. Pelops was the
son of Tantalus, sacrificed by his father to the gods and chopped into small pieces.
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| Courtesy Roy Fenton - SM AUG/03 |
Although the first priority after World War II was rebuilding the company's
cargo-carrying fleet, eight passsenger ships were added to the programme. Their design was clearly based on the
A class but with steam turbines to give them the necessary speed. Four H class turbine-driven ships were built along
similar lines to the P class for the Liverpool-Australia service. Reflecting the importance of Australia's food
exports, the H class had more refrigerated space but carried slightly fewer passengers. Second of
the class, JASON (10,160 grt), was completed in 1950 by Swan, Hunter and Wigham, Richardson Ltd. at Wallsend-on-Tyne.
In 1960, JASON carried the Australian Equestrian Team from Sydney to
the Olympic Games in Rome. A paddock was created on one of the hatches to allow the horses to be exercised. This
had some mythological resonance as the Greek hero after which the ship was named, leader of the Argonauts, had
been brought up by a Centaur. Along with other lines, Blue Funnel abandoned passenger carrying in the 1960s,
allowing big savings on catering staff. Blue Funnel's fourth and final JASON was broken up in 1972.
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| Courtesy Roy Fenton - SM AUG/03 |
A Centaur was a half-man half-horse who dwelt in Thessaly, a myth supposedly
arising from the expert horsemanship of the region's natives. Blue Funnel's third ship of the name became associated
with another quadruped, the sheep. CENTAUR was completed in 1964 by John Brown & Co. of Clydebank for the
Singapore to Fremantle service as a replacement for the CHARON and GORGON. She was very carefully designed for the trade,
able to carry 190 passengers amd 4,500 sheep at 20 knots.
Despite misgivings about her 2.5 million pound cost, CENTAUR proved very
popular with regular passengers. She was withdrawn from service in 1981 and, during the Falkland's war of 1982,
was chartered by the St. Helena Shipping Co. Ltd as a substitute for it's requisitioned ST. HELENA. Many regretted
that she did not remain on the service. In 1985 she was sold to China and was renamed HAI LONG and, after 1986,
HAI DA. Her thick masts were vents for the sheep carrying holds.
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| Courtesy Roy Fenton - SM AUG/03 |
The MEDON, above, of 1923 was Blue Funnel's first motorship and
her Burmeister & Wain diesel proved so successful that the company built few steamers thereafter. MEDON was
one of the company's many losses during World War II, torpedoed by the Italian submarine Reginaldo Giuliani in the Atlantic
on August 10, 1942. MEDON's entire crew got away in her 4 lifeboats, and had mixed fortunes. Boat
No. 1 was rescued after 8 days by the Panamanian steamer Rosemount. Boat No. 2 was rescued after 35 days by the
Portuguese steamer Luso. Boat No. 3 was rescued after 36 days by the British steamer Reedpool, but she was
herself torpedoed on September 20th, 1942. The 16 MEDON survivors plus Reedpool's crew took to the boats and were
rescued the next day. Boat No. 4 was rescued after 7 days by the Norwegian motor vessel Tamerlane.
Thus MEDON's entire crew survived, some after many weeks in a boat, others after experiencing the horrors of a
second sinking.
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| Courtesy Roy Fenton - SM AUG/03 |
In June 1949, during the last stages of the Chinese communist revolution,
the 1947-buiilt A class Mark 1 ANCHISES was on her way from Woosung to Shanghai on the Wangpoo River when bombed by Chinese
Nationalist aircraft. Flooded in the engine room she settled by the stern in shallow water. When towed up river
for discharge she was once again bombed, but this time without damage. After discharging ANCHISES was towed to
Kobe, Japan for repairs. Renamed ALCINOUS in January 1973 she was broken up in Kaohsiung in December 1075.
GORGON was a cargo passenger motorship built in 1933 for service between
Singapore and Australia. Early in 1942 she sailed from Melbourne with troops to reinforce the garrison at Singapore.
During the Japanese attack on the colony she was continuously bombed but was spared serious damage. On February 11th
it was apparent that the remainder of her cargo was not going to be discharged, she sailed with many refugees on board.
Attacked by aircraft, the captain reported that only the extreme manoeuvrability of GORGON saved her, but this
almost certainly hid the skill and coolness with which he handled her. GORGON again survived bombing by the Japanese
whilst in Milne Bay, New Guinea, on April 4th. 1943. The air attack was in response to the first Allied successes
of the war against the Japanese when the Australians stopped their advance to Port Moresby. Six of GORGON's crew were
killed, and so she was so severely damaged by fire that she had to be towed to Brisbane for repairs. After a long
and eventful life, GORGON went for scrap in Hong Kong during 1964.
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| Courtesy Roy Fenton - SM AUG/03 |
The arrival of LAERTES (above) and LYCAON in 1976 was something of a
surprise, two sisters from the Kherson Shipyard in the USSR. They were the result of the inability of British
yards to meet Blue Funnel's urgent demand for extra container capacity, and the USSR's eternal desire for hard currency.
Both were chartered by the Ministry of Defence for use during the Falkland's campaign where they proved their worth.
Most Russian 'civilian' designs had the ability to carry heavy military equipment. LAERTES was sold in 1983 and
lasted until broken up in 1998..
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| Courtesy Roy Fenton - SM AUG/03 |
All three ships of the ALCINOUS class were completed for Dutch subsidiary
Nederlandsche Stoomvaart Maatschappij Oceaan (NSMO). ALCINOUS, the first, was transferred to the British flag in 1950
and was renamed PHEMIUS as seen above. She was broken up at Hong Kong in 1957.
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| Courtesy Roy Fenton - SM AUG/03 |
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| Courtesy Roy Fenton - SM AUG/03 |
First of the class, AGAMEMNON (above) was requisitioned
by the Admiralty in 1939 and converted into a minelayer, later becoming a recreation ship and requiring an extra funnel.
Returned to the company in 1946 she was demolished at Hong Kong in 1963.
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| Courtesy Albert Novelli - SM AUG/03 |
Above, ADRASTUS, a Mark IV A class ship, catches the evening sun at Singapore
in 1960. This version of the class had a lengthened poop to accommodate a pair of deep tanks. ADRASTUS was transferred
to NSMO in 1961, went briefly to Elder Dempster in 1974, then returned to China Mutual the same year before being
sold to Cyprus to be renamed ANASSA. She was broken up on Gadani Beach in 1981.
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| Courtesy Roy Fenton - SM AUG/03 |
PRIAM, the first of the Priam or Super P class, was seen as the
ultimate in British cargo-liner design. She had an inauspicious start to her career, being delivered from Vickers
seven and a half months late, and then being beaten to each port in Malaya and Singapore on her maiden voyage by the
latest Ben Line ship. Sold in 1979 to C.Y. Tung and renamed ORIENTAL CHAMPION, she was damaged in 1985 and demolished.
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| Courtesy Roy Fenton - SM AUG/03 |
The TYNDAREUS ws a batch-four BELLEROPHON laid down in March of 1914.
On the outbreak of war her construction was delayed in favour of warship building and it ws almost two and a half years before
she was completed. During her 1917 maiden voyage from Liverpool to Yokohama, she hit a mine and began to sink.
All on board were saved and TYNDAREUS survived to be repaired. During World War II, she was again a troopship
and in 1949 was converted to a pilgrim ship making voyages each year between SE Asia and Jeddah.
Above, three of the ships trapped in the Suez Canal for eight years in the seventies.
Left to right the 'LEDNICE', the 'MELAMPUS' (8,511 grt) and the 'AGAPENOR'. The 'MELAMPUS' was built by Vickers Armstrong
at Newcastle in 1960 and was owned by the Ocean Steamship Company, while the 'AGAPENOR' (7,654 grt) was built by Scott's of
Greenock in 1947 and, at the time, belonged to the China Mutual Steam Navigation Company. Both ships
were registered in Liverpool.
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| "AENEAS" Courtesy Ray Simes |
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| "AJAX" Courtesy Ray Simes |
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| "ASTYANAX" Courtesy Ray Simes |
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| "LYCAON" Courtesy Ray Simes |
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| "MARON" Courtesy Ray Simes |
FOR BLUE FUNNEL FANS.
The following memorabilia is from Doug. Jackson who now lives in Brisbane, Australia.
"My Mother and I travelled from South Africa in July 1948 on the 'NESTOR'. I have
a Childrens Tea Party invitation from the ship with the names of all the children on the voyage and the menu for
the event. It is dated 24 July 1948 and the captain was E. W. Powell, M.B.E.
I also have a menu from the 'DIOMED' dated August 7th. 1951. My father served in the
R.A.N from April 1939 to August 1948. (HMAS Nestor and other 'N' Class destroyers) and left the service as a two badge PO
Stoker. He then worked on merchant vessels, one of which I believe was the 'DIOMED'. Both menus were found among his
effects long after his passing. The Captain at that time on the 'DIOMED' was R. Singleton."
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