ss.ranchi

Hi Mea, in the meantime I spotted you on FB. You have probably seen my message there.

 

Hi June.

National archives website has the passenger lists. It may nit yet be digitalised so you may have to request it to be. Let me know if you need a hand with it.

 

National archives have the passenger records.

 

I came out to Australia on the SS Ranchi also in March 1952. I came with my parents and remember it quite well.

Sent from my SM-T355Y using Tapatalk

 

Great to see new people who travelled on the ' ss Ranchi ' still posting on here.

I joined P & O in late 1950 as a Bell Boy and was lucky enough to sail on their newly built
ship the ' ss Chusan ' which then operated from the UK to Hong Kong and also did some UK
cruises in our summer months.

I must say having five days in Hong Kong between the outward and homeward voyages so
the outward cargo, mail, and sometimes bullion etc be unloaded and then new cargo loaded after
the hold areas were cleaned by the local chinese labour gave a 16 year old a chance to
find out a lot about the night time attractions then in Hong Kong as we could stay out all night ! lol

In 1952 I moved to the ' 'ss Stratheden ' and when we arrived in Sydney we would be there for
about eight days with no passengers on board and the outward cargo etc being off loaded and then
new cargo mainly for the UK being loaded so again plenty of time to see the sights or visit friends.

With no cargo or mail on the new cruise ships they are in and out of ports as quick as possible so
the passengers are trapped on these massive ships and spending more money on board and making even
more profit for the companies to build bigger and bigger ships which are now more of an amusement
park with a hotel rather than a proper cruise ship with one even having a bumper car track added !

With the shorter times in port now this also results in many of the crew seeing little of the ports of call.
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Hello Neil,
My first post on a forum so hope I'm doing it correctly. I have been able to establish that my wife travelled (as a child with her family) to Australia on SS Ranchi arriving in Fremantle Australia on 3 November 1952. I am trying to find out how long the voyage was and where it left England from (Southampton?). She was only three so doesn't really remember the details. Are you able to assist please or advise how/where I may find out? We've been told that the trip can be counted on her cruise points and added to her current status and I expect it was many more days than we have cruised so far as we are rather new to it. Any help/advice greatly appreciated. Russell

 

Hi Russell

Great to see you on line here.

I am not sure where you would have got the information that your wife's voyage to Australia would count as cruise points as it would have been a line voyage to Australia and not a cruise !

In those days the ' ss Ranchi ' would have loaded her cargo plus any other items which could include bullion at the London King George V docks and then proceed down river to the port of Tilbury, which is on the UK River Thames, to embark her passengers.

She would then continue down river to the North Sea and on her line voyage to Australia which would be through the Suez Canal, depending on if it was operating OK and no wars were on, otherwise they went via South Africe with calls at Cape Town & Durban.

The Suez Canal route often led to calls at Aden, Bombay and Colombo before arriving in Fremantle and then going round the other main coastal ports to Sydney and sometimes on to Brisbane before returning to the UK by the same route.

Aden in those days was very good for duty free shopping !

From after the 2nd world war P & O first started to use Southampton for cruises with the ' RMS Stratheden and RMS Starthmore ' about 1961 but cruises on their other ships had departed from Tilbury which was then the main P&O UK port and where the larger ships did their 15 to 17 day turn rounds between voyages and were also dry-docked every year.

In 1961 I was running the aft restaurant on the ' RMS Strathmore ' at only 26 years old with most of the other people in charge of the companies other ship's restaurant in their 50's !

In those days the voyage from the UK to Fremantle for the ' ss Ranchi ' would take about 30 days however after her service in the 2nd world war the engines in the ' ss Ranchi ' were not too reliable so the voyage could be longer and was also why the newer Strath ships got RMS before their name ( Royal Mail Ship ) and also flew a RMS pendant as they carried cargo and also mail and had a service contract to maintain for the mail to arrive by a certain date in Australia !

Hope this helps.
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