The China Navigation Company MS
Changsha
and Taiyuan
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With
Reuben Goossens
Maritime Historian, Cruise‘n’Ship
Reviewer, Author & Maritime Lecturer
Please Note: All
ssMaritime and other related maritime/cruise sites are 100% non-commercial and
privately owned. Be assured that I am NOT associated with any shipping or
cruise companies or any travel/cruise agencies or any other organisations!
Although the author has been in the passenger shipping industry since 1960,
although is now retired but having completed around
680 Classic Liners and Cargo-Passengers Ships features I trust these will
continue to provide classic ship enthusiasts the information the are
seeking, but above all a great deal of pleasure!
Reuben Goossens.
PLEASE NOTE: Images on this page are from the author’s private collection, Mr
Stan Evans unless specified otherwise.
The author received an email from a dear
friend who has been a solid supporter and a provider of many fine photographs on
ssMaritime, Mr Stan Evans from Newcastle
Australia,
and he wrote about how he saw the MS Changsha for the very first time, and she
was coming through Sydney Heads through some very heavy seas. He was certainly
impressed by this “little ship.” As I had been intending to write
an article on the China Navigation Co twins for a long time, but somehow never
got around to it, I decided, well I have a good number of photographs on file,
and Stan will send me more, why not do it NOW! Thus here is the story of the MS
Changsha and her sister the MS Taiyuan! I trust that you will enjoy it, and
thank you Stan!
The
China Navigation Company’s history in short!
The China
Navigation Company’s (CNCo) and they have their origins in Liverpool
when they were founded in 1816. The background is due to CNCo’s parent
company being the well known John Samuel Swire (1825-1898) & Sons Ltd who
in 1866 opened his first Far Eastern agency in Shanghai,
and in 1872 he founded The China
Navigation Company to operate a modest fleet of paddle steamers on China’s
Yangtze River.
Within a decade, CNCo
had expanded its operations up and down the China
coast and had begun regular services to Australia
and New
Zealand. One
of the company’s early successes was to take a monopoly of the previously
junk-borne tramp trade in “beancake” -
cartwheel-sized cakes of compressed soybean husk (the residue from making oil),
which were carried from North to South China to use as a fertiliser. By the
turn of the century, CNCo’s by then substantial fleet was covering a
complex network of Far Eastern trades, backed up by its own well-established
coastal and river feeder services. But after WWII the Australian passenger
services became more and more popular.
The 1960s and 70s also saw China Navigation
diversifying its scope of activities in two other very different directions.
The first was cruise operations, based in Australia
and New
Zealand,
which commenced in 1961. In the early 1970s, CNCo
developed a niche market operating seminar cruises out of Japan
and successfully dominated this market for almost 20 years. CNCo
continues today as a major shipping company but no longer as a passenger
operator, but container ship operations and has a massive fleet. However,
Australians and new Zealanders will remember the days of the CNCo passenger, services, especially the delightful twins
MS Changsha and Taiyuan!
The
1946 / 1947 quartet of ships:
By the late 1950’s The China Navigation
Company was a popular shipping company, especially with Australian’s
sailing between Melbourne,
Sydney, Brisbane,
Port Moresby,
and Asia,
be it for a line voyage or a circle cruise. By this time there were eight ships
operating from 3,150-tons, accommodating with just 12 first class to the larger
7,472-ton ships offering 84 first class passengers, and each ship also had
space for steerage or third class accommodations, which was mostly used for
local inter island coastal traffic.
The
MS Sinkiang 3,029-ton was he first of the quartet to be built
In 1946 and 1947 quartet of ships of cargo
ships were built, being the MS Sinkiang (12 first class passengers), Szechuan
(15 first class), Shansi (11 first class) and Soochow
(11 first class). Each ship also had space for 76 in steerage. However, there
as slight differences between the first pair, which were built in 1946, and
were 3,029-ton & 3,028-tons and the 1947 being slightly larger at
3,152-tons each. All measured: 321ft long, 46ft wide and having a draught of
18.ft, having with Doxford diesels installed (although MS Szechuan had Sulzer
Diesels), with a single screw and a service speed of 12 knots (Szechuan 11.5
knots).
However, the 1947 pair, being the MS Shansi
and Soochow externally looked quite different as they had a longer Bridge deck
that extended as far aft as the mainmast, providing additional facilities for
their passengers to the other ships. This quartet became very popular with
passengers including the excellent style of service that was available, which
was simply superb and it became obvious to the management that they proved to
be inadequate and new and larger ships were needed with a larger passenger
capacity, thus two new ships had been designed, which resulted in two superb
ships being built, the MS Changsha and Taiyuan, which were true passenger-cargo
liners in the true sense of the word, offering every possible facility!
1950
and 1951 - Twins that were built world’s apart!
Several other ships to be built are the 1950,
6,100-ton twins MS Anking and Anshun, which officered accommodations for 50
first class passengers as well as 116 in steerage.
MS Anking,
the second of the pair to be built
All CNCo’s ships were generally all
built by Scotts Caledon or Scotts
Inglis in the UK,
except for MS Anshun, which was built at the Taikoo
Shipyards in Hong Kong
and she was the largest ship of her type to be built there! But just prior to
building these two ships, our featured ships came into being and we will now
concentrate on them!
MS
Changsha and Taiyuan:
With the changes happening in mainland
China, the China Navigation Company had to seek new routes and were operating
all the above between Australia, New Zealand Hong Kong and Japan, with a
variety of ports in between. However with these new ships having a large
passenger capacity, their services would be more of a cruise style operation,
whilst continuing their cargo services, something that appealed to the public!
MS Changsha was built by Scotts
Shipbuilding & Engineering Co of Greenock
and she was launched on November 2, 1948. Having been completed she run her
deep sea trails on May 3, 1949 and she was delivered duly to her owners at Liverpool
thereafter. Changsha
having loaded with freight departed the United
Kingdom on May 17 and she sailed via
the Suez Canal to Australia,
calling at Adelaide,
Melbourne and Brisbane.
Having offloaded all her cargoes at all three ports, she returned to Melbourne
where she would commence her official maiden passenger service to Asia from
Australia on July 23, 1949, sailing to Sydney, where she remained for five full
days, after which she continued to Brisbane, Hong Kong and various ports in
Japan.
MS Taiyuan was also built by the same builder
and she was launched on May 13, 1949. She ran her sea trails on Tuesday
November 1, and she headed for Liverpool
to be delivered and handed over. She departed for Australia
on November 15, 1949, but unlike her sister, she sailed via South
Africa, visiting Cape
Town and arrived in Melbourne
on December 21, where she remained for five days. Taiyuan
departed on her official maiden passenger voyage on the 29th.
Ports of Call:
They operated regular sailings on two
consecutive months each quarter. In general their ports of call were: Melbourne,
Sydney,
Brisbane,
Manila,
Hong Kong, Osaka,
Kobe, Yokohama,
Shimizu, Hong Kong, Sydney
and back to Melbourne,
a round voyage that generally took around 78 days. Occasionally
there were slight variations due to cargo requirements, but the route basically
remained the same until the mid 1960s.
For interest, there were two contemporaries
that were of a similar design named the MS Changchow and Chungking,
but they had been purchased by the British Admiralty as supply ships and were
renamed Resurgent and Retainer.
The
ships design and interiors:
These superbly designed ships and
had traditional lines with rounded forward superstructure, giving them a
somewhat more modern look than any of their predecessors, yet they retained the
traditional tall slender pipe black funnel and the forward and aft upright
masts. The MS Changsha
and Taiyuan
were the also the largest ships of the fleet, and were managed from the Swire
Hong Kong based office.
These were also the only ships in the fleet to
enjoy air-Conditioning in all of the pubic rooms, such as the Lounge, Lounge
and Bar as well as the Shop and hairdresser, and all cabins on Upper
Deck.
The Main
Lounge far forward on Upper Deck featured soft timbered walls with book cases
built into the aft walls. There was a grand piano for entertainment. The colour
scheme was minimal with a gently patterned red to rust carpets, with the sofas
and seating in a pale blue accompanies by mahogany tables and incidental
furnishings. The smaller Bar and Lounge featured timber floors with turquoise
mats, both the walls and ceiling clad in fine woods and a superb Chinese mural
featuring the forward facing wall. The furnishing was the same as in the Main
Lounge. The Dining Room continued this elegant timber theme with blue
upholstery, but with beige patterned vinyl flooring.
From
a brochure – provided by Stan Evans – Newcastle
Australia
From
a brochure – provided by Stan Evans – Newcastle
Australia
From
a brochure – provided by Stan Evans – Newcastle
Australia
Accommodations were more designed to
make the passenger feel very much at home, yet with a nautical feel, having an
abundance of fine timbers in all the furnishings. There were comfortable beds,
and spacious bathrooms with bathtubs and showers. All cabins had large windows
and looked out onto the deck.
From a brochure
– provided by Stan Evans – Newcastle
Australia
From
a brochure – provided by Stan Evans – Newcastle
Australia
The Bar from onboard one of the ships
MS
Changsha’s and her run of bad luck:
MS Changsha certainly had her share of
misfortunes, as she ran aground in Tokyo
Bay
on Tuesday March 27, 1956 and it would be twelve days later when she was
finally refloated on Monday April 9.
Then on September 26, 1959, just over three
years later, whilst was on another voyage and again in Japanese waters, during
Typhoon Vera she was blown ashore near Nagoya
in 1959 during typhoon Vera. However, due to the ferocity of this Typhoon she
was one of around 19 vessels that were affected and blown ashore, and Changsha
ended up high and dry on a sandy beach with a considerable list. In order to
refloat her, sand had to be moved and a channel dug around the hull, it was a
massive task, but it was achieved and on December 15 she was pulled clear and
towed to Yokkaichi
where she was berthed to be repaired. However, her problems had not ended, for
just two days later a fire broke out on board, and with the fire controlled,
she was towed to Yokohama
for dry-docking. She was completed and returned to service in March 1960.
MS
Changsha seen during her troubled days
However, sadly her troubles continued,
although her sister MS Taiyuan happily sailed on being the untroubled ship of
the pair!
On December 18, 1960, whilst off the coast of Victoria,
there was damage to the propeller shaft, which caused her engines to stop,
which caused her to drift for around 15 hours. In the meantime her engineers
were busy making temporary repairs, and soon she was able to sail to Melbourne
not having to request a tow. Thankfully this was the last of her troubles and
she sailed on trouble free thereafter as the Changsha!
NEW - Purser Grace Winifred Hawley:
I was delighted to receive an email from Mr
G. Jones,
who is the son of Grace
Winifred Jones,
nee Hawley who served on both the MS Taiyuan and Changsha
as the ships Purser from the late 1950s to the early 1960s. Mr. Jones advised me
on January 2, 2016, that his Mother “Is now 90 and is still cruising the
high seas solo and is currently in the Magellan Strait aboard MV Marco
Polo!”
Although from the UK,
but whilst Purser Grace W. Hawley was employed with CNCo and serving on the Taiyuan and Changsha,
she resided at Blackman’s Bay near Hobart
in Tasmania,
Australia.
The MS Changsha
is seen during her voyage in January 1961 to Hong Kong
and Grace W.
Hawley was on board as a passenger
Whilst onboard she had ample opportunities to
mix with the passengers in the Lounge and Bar in the evening, and below are
several photographs of her doing just that, when it was all part of her
official duties when she was the ships Purser. Below are a few photographs of
Grace mixing with the passengers when she was the Purser and there are two
Passenger & Officer lists, and a Passenger List Cover, I am sure that you
will enjoy these wonderful items, and for those who sailed on these fine ships,
they may well bring back some wonderful memories!
Here we see Purser Grace Hawley
chatting with passengers at the ships Bar and Lounge
Time for Grace to enjoy lunch with a group of
passengers
Here we see Grace in her civvies at a Company social
Passenger List Cover of the MS Changsha, Voyage 46
northbound Jan 1961
…
Left: Is the MS Changsha Voy
46 northbound Jan 1961 - List of Offers ( Left) and
(Passengers) (Right)
Passenger Mrs Grace Hawley
is marked with an arrow
Right: List of Officers, Taiyuan
northbound Voyage 52 Mar 1962.
Purser Grace W.
Hawley is seen marked as
she has joined the ship after a break
Passenger List Cover for the Taiyuan,
Voyage 52 southbound Feb 1962
Here we see Grace
marked on Voyage 52 southbound Feb 1962
Officers
Day
Shore
Pass
for Purser Grace Hawley Apr 1962
I hereby wish to thank Mr
G. Jones
and his drear Mother, Mrs. Grace Winifred Jones, nee Hawley for being so kind
contacting me and providing the images above and her delightful story regarding
her time onboard these two fine ships! Please Note All of these Photographs and
Passengers lists, etc are Copyright © and are not to be copied for the use on
any media, be it the internet, print of any kind without permission from the
owner! Please Email me!
A New Swire Company Service:
In 1965 the Changsha
and Taiyuan
were placed on a new and shorter service, covering the usual Australian ports,
but sailing to Port Moresby,
Manila and
concluding in Hong Kong,
thus making it a shorter return voyage and thus they offered an excellent value
circle cruise fare! It was during the next years that the author became closely
acquainted with these two ships, for I spent considerable time onboard whenever
they were in port and each time I was on one of the ships, I just loved the
atmosphere onboard and the amazing crew and superb food and service! From 1965
it would be the Swire Company flag that was shown on their funnels as the
company now managed them. Apart from an excellent passenger service they also
offered an efficient freight service!
A new
postcard of the MS Changsha featuring the Swire logo on her funnel
However, times had suddenly changed, for at
the time the competition had vastly increased, for en the famed Dutch Company
“Royal Interocean Lines,” which operated two fine small ships that
where considered as the finest small liners afloat and were called the “Elegant
White Yachts” the MS Tjiwangi and the MS
Tjiluwah, in addition there were also the delightful Dominion Line twins with
the SS Francis Drake and the George
Anson, as well as a good number of other ships, thus the competition was
becoming more and more difficult and a solution had to be found.
Specifications 1 = MS Changsha - 2 = Taiyuan:
Built: Scotts Shipbuilding & Engineering, Co Greenock.
Launched: 1. November 2,
1948.
. 2. May 13, 1949.
Maiden Voyage: 1. July 23, 1949 Melbourne
to Asia.
. 2. December 29, 1949 Melbourne
to Asia.
Tonnage: 1. 7,412 GRT.
. 2. 7,472 GRT.
, 1. 5,795 D.W.
. 2. 5,894 D.W.
Length: 440ft - 134.11m.
Breath: 57ft - 17.37m.
Draught: 23.7ft - 7.18m.
Propulsion: Doxford type Diesels.
Screws: Single.
Service
speed: 15 knots.
Passengers: 82 First Class.
. 70
Third Class & Deck passengers for daylight coastal voyages.
. 1. Sold in 1969.
. 2. 1971 Refit - 86 First Class passengers only
continued to sail to 1972.
The
MS Changsha is seen here on one of her last visits to Sydney.
A
new life for the MS Changsha:
Sadly it was in 1969 that it was decided by
Swire/CNCo to sell the Changsha and she was soon
obtained by the Singaporean - Pacific International Lines and the MS Changsha
departed Sydney for the very last time on May 20, 1969 and was soon handed over
to her new owners and having received a refit and painted all white, a red
funnel, with a white band with large PIL letters in red. When completed she was
renamed Kota Panjang. She was then placed on the Hong
Kong, Canton, Singapore
to Penang
service.
MS
Kota Panjang seen in Hong Kong
- early in her new role
*Photographer unknown
– Please see the photo notes at the bottom of the page
MS Taiyuan Receives a Refit.
Whilst the Taiyuan
was in Hong Kong
she was given an extensive refit, improving her facilities bringing her up to
date with other ships on the service. The old third class was removed, which
provided additional aft deck space which allowed the installation of a swimming
pool as well as a children’s playroom. With upgraded accommodations she
now accommodated 86 first class passengers.
MS
Taiyuan seen berthed in the Brisbane
River
with the Swire Company flag on her funnel
Photograph by Stan
Evans
Upon completion the Taiyuan
returned to Sydney
in June 1971, and she was placed under the management of the Fiji Australia Line,
as she was about to commence a new Pacific service and these voyages were
advertised as a “Cruise.”
A
Bridge scene on board the MS Taiyuan
From a brochure
– provided by Stan Evans - Newcastle
She would sail from Sydney
to Noumea, (New
Caledonia), Lautoka and Suva
(Fiji),
then back to Sydney
sailing via Brisbane.
Taiyuan would
depart Sydney
every third Saturday. Sadly, she was not a great success, again due to the vast
competition with the various much larger cruise ships operating offering far
greater facilities and entertainment, etc, thus in 1972 this service was
ceased.
MS Taiyuan sold:
This fine ship that had served the company so well
for she and her sister the Changsha had become greatly loved by those who had
sailed on them, but sadly, even though they had excellent repeat passenger
numbers, this was simply not enough to keep the Taiyuan operating, for there
were other factors at hand at the time, such as air travel and of course when
it came to cargo, containerisation was slowly becoming the new age of
modernisation, and these ships were certainly not suitable for conversion!
Pacific International Lines:
The day came that the MS Taiyuan departed Sydney
for the very last voyage on July 10, 1972 and upon arrival in Hong
Kong she was rapidly sold to the Pacific International
Lines who gave her a refit and renamed her Kota Sahabat. However, unlike her
sister, the company decided not to repaint her hull white, and thus throughout
her career she retained her original black hull. She joined her sister and
operated the same service as the Kota Panjang.
MS
Kota Sahabat seen in Australian waters in 1977
*Photographer unknown
– Please see the photo notes at the bottom of the page
The
final days of two fine ships!
1. MS Kota Panjang.
The all white Kota Panjang (ex Changsha)
continued as a passenger cargo liner until the very end of her days sailing
around Asia
where she became a familiar sight. Apart from her scheduled Asian sailings, she
also made voyages to Tanzania
with Chinese workers to build a railway there. However, in her latter days, she
did look rather worn!
MS
Taiyuan, renamed Kota
Panjang is seen here in Singapore
in 1977
She
is looking rather rusty, but sadly it did get much worse!
*Photographer unknown
– Please see the photo notes at the bottom of the page
MS Kota Panjang was finally laid up and sold
in 1981 to ship breakers in Karachi,
where she was broken up at Gadani
Beach.
2. MS Kota Sahabat.
But, amazingly MS Kota Sahabat (ex Taiyuan)
did return to Australian waters for her final days of operation as she was
placed on the Australia Fiji run for three years from 1975 until 1978. Then in
1978 she was converted into a sheep carrier and she entered occasional troubled
waters, for she was held up for weeks off the coast off Newcastle
due to industrial disputes ashore, but as soon she was able to berth and loaded
some 12,000 sheep.
Later, in September 1979, whilst en-route to Hobart
Tasmania
the ship lost radio contact and she became a major search and recue operation
off the coast of Tasmania.
But, she arrived safely in Hobart
on September 16, and took on a further load of sheep.
In December 1979 she was in Singapore
and she was laid up for sadly her days were finally at an end, and she was sold
to Taiwanese breakers. MS Kota Sahabat departed Singapore
in February 1980 and headed for Kaohsiung
where she was broken up.
Remembering Two Delightful and
Popular Ships
Memories
of two fine First Class Passenger-Cargo liners; The MS Taiyuan is seen heading
out bound through Sydney Heads!
This superb painting
is by Second Mate Neil Bohill who sailed on the Taiyuan
in 1964. He later became a pilot on the Great
Barrier Reef.
Thank you to Captain
Rodger Biggs for advising us.
A
ship lover’s love affair, that began back in 1966:
“My love affair with these
pretty little ships began in 1966 when I was at Manly in Sydney
for the day. It was a cold, and a windy day, and I recall that the seas were
rather high. As I looked out to sea I could see this little black ship
with a tall black funnel, rolling and pitching heavily, as she struggled her
way towards Sydney Heads, but she obviously did so safety. I decided that I
would drive up to North Head to see her enter the harbour as the swells at the
entrance can be quite high. Her entry was quite something to behold as she turned
to enter the harbour and was ‘surged ahead’ by the following huge
rollers, dipping her bows deep in the water as she did so. It must have
been a very rough trip for all those who were on board. I could not read her
name from my vantage point on the top of North Head but I was really impressed
by the scene being played out before me, so I rang the Maritime Services Board
to ask the name of that little ship that had entered the harbour. The man
I spoke to told me that “The pretty little ship you saw battling the
waves is the Changsha
of the China Navigation Company and she will berth at Pyrmont.” Sadly I
did not have my camera with me or I would have driven around to Pyrmont to take
a photograph her. Ever since that day I have loved these little ships and still
do to this day having watched the Changsha’s
heroic battle to gain entry into the harbour on that day, back in 1966! Stan Evans - Newcastle.”
Stan Evans photographed by the
author on board MV Dawn Princess in October 2009
****************************
I trust you have enjoyed reading
this page about these much loved passenger-cargo ships, and if you have sailed
on them, then I hope that you will have relived some wonderful memories of some
fine maritime days now long gone, when passenger shipping was so much simpler
and in many ways so much nicer!
Reuben Goossens,
Maritime Historian, Author, Cruise‘n’Ship Reviewer &
Lecturer.
Commenced in the Passenger Shipping Industry in 1960.
For other China Navigation Company’s read the following:
MS Kuala Lumpur – MS Anking
& Anshun
“Blue Water Liners sailing to the
distant shores.
I watched them come, I watched them go and I watched them die.”
****************************
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Photographs on ssmaritime
and associate pages are either by the author or from the author’s private
collection. In addition there are some images and photographs that have been
provided by Shipping Companies or private photographers or collectors. Credit
is given to all contributors, however, there are some photographs provided to
me without details regarding the photographer or owner concerned. Therefore, I
hereby invite if owners of these images would be so kind to make them-selves
known to me (my email address can be found at the bottom of the page on www.ssmaritime.com), in order
that due credit may be given.
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