MS ''Dwarka'' was the second of four "modern D Class" passenger/cargo sister ships of the
British India Steam Navigation Company
British India Steam Navigation Company ("BI") was formed in 1856 as the Calcutta and Burmah Steam Navigation Company.
History
The ''Calcutta and Burmah Steam Navigation Company'' had been formed out of Mackinnon, Mackenzie & Co, a trading partn ...
(BI). The only one of the quartet to be built by
Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson at
Walker, Newcastle upon Tyne, ''Dwarka'' entered service in 1947 on her owners'
Persian Gulf local trades. She was named after
Dwarka, an ancient city of religious significance in the state of
Gujarat, on
India's northwest coast.
Of 4,851 gross register tons, 399 feet in length and 55 feet wide, the vessel was powered by a
William Doxford & Sons five cylinder
opposed piston
An opposed-piston engine is a piston engine in which each cylinder has a piston at both ends, and no cylinder head. Petrol and diesel opposed-piston engines have been used mostly in large-scale applications such as ships, military tanks, and ...
diesel engine driving a single screw, giving a service speed of 13.5 knots. Original maximum passenger capacity was 1,104 (13 first class, 41 second class and 1,050 deck class), with 122 crew. The quartet were described as "... ships of transport, cargo plus passengers - comfortable but not luxurious, dependable but not speedy - appropriately functional for their time".
''Dwarka'' was the final British-India vessel to operate traditional "liner" trades. However the last passenger ship wearing BI livery was , withdrawn in 1985, having previously transferred to the
cruise ship operations of parent company
Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company.
Twice, very close to the end of the vessel's career, ''Dwarka'', under the command of Captain G. A. Hankin, featured on film. In 1979 the
BBC made a television documentary as part of the series ''
The World About Us
''The World About Us'' was a BBC Two television documentary series on natural history which ran from 3 December 1967 to 20 July 1986.''Encyclopedia of Television'' (2d ed.), ed. Horace Newcomb, p. 324, 620, 1363. The show was created by David At ...
'' entitled "An Arabian Voyage", about a voyage from
Mumbai, stopping at
Karachi, taking migrant workers to countries in the
Persian Gulf, which illustrated the ship's unique historic status, which reportedly prompted renewed interest in her from around the world. In 1981, ''Dwarka'' was used for several location shoots (portraying much earlier BI vessels) in
Richard Attenborough
Richard Samuel Attenborough, Baron Attenborough, (; 29 August 192324 August 2014) was an English actor, filmmaker, and entrepreneur. He was the president of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and the British Academy of Film and Televisio ...
's 1982 film ''
Gandhi'', about the life of
Mahatma Gandhi.
''Dwarka'' was beached and subsequently scrapped at
Gadani Beach,
Pakistan, in May 1982. Her sister ship the
MS ''Dumra'' having been taken out of service in 1979 and also scrapped.
References
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External links
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1946 ships
Ships built on the River Tyne
Ships of the British India Steam Navigation Company
Ships built by Swan Hunter
{{Pakistan-hist-stub