SS Dwarka

SS Dwarka was the second of four "modern D Class" passenger/cargo sister ships of the British India Steam Navigation Company (BI). The only one of the quartet to be built by Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson at Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, SS Dwarka entered service in 1947 on her owners' Persian Gulf local trades.

Of 4851 gross tons, 399 feet in length and 55 feet wide, the vessel was powered by William Doxford & Sons diesel engines geared to a single screw, giving a service speed of 13.5 knots. Original maximum passenger capacity was 1104 (13 first class, 41 second class and 1050 deck class), with 122 crew. On pages 145/146 of his book "The Last Blue Water Liners", author William H. Miller describes this quartet as "... ships of transport, cargo plus passengers - comfortable but not luxurious, dependable but not speedy - appropriately functional for their time".

After a very long and successful career, SS Dwarka was scrapped at Gadani Beach, Pakistan, in 1982. SS Dwarka was the final British-India vessel to operate traditional "liner" trades. However the last passenger ship wearing BI livery was SS Uganda withdrawn in 1985, having previously transferred to the cruise ship operations of parent company Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company.

Dwarka is an ancient city of religious significance in the state of Gujarat, on India's northwest coast.

Twice, very close to the end of the vessel's career, SS Dwarka featured on film. In 1979 the BBC made a television documentary stressing the ship's unique historic status, which reportedly prompted renewed interest in her from around the world. In 1981, SS Dwarka was used for several location shoots (portraying much earlier BI vessels) in Richard Attenborough's 1982 released film "Gandhi", about the life of Mahatma Gandhi.

External references

• BI Ship site
• A Short History of British India Steam Navigation
• Clydeside built BI ships
• The Last Blue Water Liners by William H. Miller. Conway Maritime Press, London, 1986 - ISBN 0 85177 400 8