On 1st January 1914 Frank Bibby presented HMS Phaeton to the
Liverpool Sea Training Homes and she became the boys training
school Indefatigable (2). Stationed off Ferry Rock in the River
Mersey she was in the company of the training ship HMS Conway.
In 1915 Bibby's were forced to change their agent in Rangoon
as Arracan & Co. were bought out by Sir John Ellerman who
continued to operate his ships to Burma so Bulloch Bros. &
Co. and Steel Bros. & Co. were appointed to act jointly
for the company.
In 1917 Arthur Harold Bibby, son of Arthur Wilson Bibby, became
a partner and in the same year the Worcestshire was Bibby's
only war casualty. When the First World War was declared many
of the company's ships were requisitioned for wartime service
as either hospital or troopships. In May of 1917, following
the entry of the United States into the war ,the 10th Cruiser
Squadron was disbanded releasing the Gloucestershire for commercial
service. When the Armistice was signed on 11th November 1918
and hostilities ceased Bibby's had transported some 200,000
British and 25,000 American troops.
The war loss was replaced by the second Yorkshire
in 1920 and at that time the fleet consisted of 8 ships. In
1921 the first 5 year trooping contract was obtained; the annual
period being March to September when from March to May the ships
trooped between Southampton - Bombay and from May to September
on 'Levant and Indian Relief Trooping to various ports as decided
by the authorities. This included Burma and the Derbyshire was
the first fulltime troopship. When the ships were not trooping
they were laid up in the River Dart.
Frank Bibby died in 1923. He had been Chairman
since 1897 and was succeeded by F. Brian Bibby. In the following
year Port Sudan was added to the itinerary and Gellatly, Hankey
& Co. were appointed as agents. Middlesbrough and the near
continent became ports of call in 1925 and a programme of short
cruises between Liverpool and Marseilles was introduced to fill
the berths not utilised by passengers avoiding the passage across
the Bay of Biscay.
The link with Harland & Wolff, which had
continued since 1859, was broken in 1925 when three ships were
ordered from the Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Co.
The reason for the change was simply economics. At the time
Harland & Wolff were installing Burmeister & Wain's
high powered four stroke diesel engines whereas Fairfield's
were using the more compact Sulzer two stroke diesel. Although
the difference in speed was minimal the Fairfield engine created
more cargo space which , over a period of time, was a considerable
economic factor.
In 1926 a yellow hand holding a dagger was added to the houseflag
and the first of the Fairfield ships, the Shropshire, joined
the fleet. The 5 year trooping contract was renewed and to cater
for the increased demand the cargo ships Dorsetshire and Shropshire
were converted into troopships. During this period troopships
retained their company livery.
During a dockers strike at Colombo in 1927 the Bibby crews unloaded
their own cargoes. In the same year Herbert Bibby, the last
connection with Ledward, Bibby & Co., died and the Cheshire
joined the fleet. In the following year all troopships were
given white hulls with a broad blue band and a yellow funnel.
F. Brian Bibby died in 1929 at the very early
age of 36 and his place as Chairman was taken by Arthur Bibby,
the senior partner. The third of the Fairfield built ships,
the Staffordshire, joined the fleet. In 1930 the Lancashire
was converted into a troopship to meet the ever increasing demands
of the renewed contracts.
By 1931 the fleet consisted of both steam
and motorships and to reflect the change the company's name
was changed to Bibby Line Ltd. The Worcestershire replaced the
Derbyshire in 1931 and in 1932 the Liverpool headquarters moved
from Chapel Street to a complete floor in the new Martins Bank
building in Water Street. One of the two agents in Rangoon,
Bulloch Bros. & Co. went into liquidation during 1933 and
Steel Bros. & Co. became the sole agent.
On 15th December 1937 Arthur Bibby died at
the age of 89 and his son, Arthur Harold Bibby, became the Chairman.
In 1937 Burma was separated from India and allowed to administer
itself. As a result, a further 5 year trooping contract was
given to Bibby's and to meet the demand the first purpose built
troopship, the Devonshire, was ordered and was delivered in
August 1939.
At the outbreak of the Second World War, on
3rd September 1939, the fleet consisted of eleven ships and
all were requisitioned for wartime duties. The Yorkshire was
the company's first war casualty when she was torpedoed on 17th
September 1939. On 13th May 1941, while serving as the armed
merchant cruiser HMS Salopian, the Shropshire was sunk south
of Greenland. As a replacement for the Yorkshire the new troopship
Empire Pride was allocated for management by Bibby's, the first
of five ships to be managed by the company during the hostilities.
The Herefordshire was delivered in 1944 and was a standard hull
completed to Bibby's Far East specification with enhanced ventilation
and the capability of being converted into passenger liner which,
in fact, she never was.
In 1945, after the cessation of hostilities, the service to
Burma was restarted from Birkenhead, in conjunction with Henderson's,
with the sole available ship, the Herefordshire, and during
1946 the surviving Burma passenger vessels were rebuilt to meet
post war requirements, rejoining the fleet with 'modern' and
radically altered profiles.
Two new passenger ships, the Warwickshire and the Leicestershire,
joined the fleet in 1948/9 but with accommodation for only 75
persons. Both ships still bore the unmistakable Bibby image
and brought the passenger fleet up to a total of five. However,
in January 1948 Burma (renamed Myanmar) attained independence
and thereafter both the passenger and cargo trade began to decline
and what was available had to be shared with locally flagged
ships. Consequently, the company had to resort to chartering
their ships to other operators.
Derek J. Bibby, a fifth generation, became
a partner in 1950. In 1952 the Government asked for another
troopship to undertake India and Burma garrison work but with
the ability to serve Hong Kong and the Oxfordshire (II) was
ordered to meet this requirement. In the same year Bibby's 'Burma
Boat' partner, P. Henderson & Co., sold out to Elder Dempster
so that their combined fleet could serve either Burma or West
Africa.
In 1955 the company, aware that air trooping
was becoming more and more acceptable, invested in Skyways Ltd.,
a freight and troop carrying airline serving the Middle East.
Sharing the route with Eagle Airways, the company had a 36 seat
Viking aircraft which served Cyprus and Egypt. On the shipping
side, the Rangoon service was down to one sailing every three
weeks and trade was chaotic with congestion and delays at most
ports of call. Ships had to wait weeks or even months before
being allocated a berth.
The closure of the Suez Canal in 1956 effectively
killed off Bibby's Burma trade as going via the Cape was totally
uneconomical. However, a monthly service was maintained until
the Suez situation clarified itself, which wasn't for six years,
but, in the meantime, the fortunes of the company were maintained
as a result of the trooping contracts.
The Oxfordshire (II) was delivered in 1957
but it was soon realised that she was clearly obsolescent. Larger
aircraft such as the Britannia were being built by the aviation
industry and these were capable of transporting over 100 men
at a time. While the troopship was completing one round voyage
an aircraft could tranship more personnel in the same time and
at a lesser cost. The only advantage of the troopship was that
whole battalions with their equipment could be moved as a single
unit.
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