NYANZA was built in 1864 by Thames Ironworks
& Shipbuilding Co. at Blackwall with a tonnage of 2128grt,
a length of 327ft 2in, a beam of 36ft 2in and a service speed
of 12 knots. She was launched as a paddle steamer for P&O
's Southampton to Alexandria service, the first leg of the UK
to India route which included an overland leg across Egypt.
When the Suez Canal opened in November 1869 P&O inaugurated
the direct service to India and the ship was then put into reserve
and laid up pending disposal at Southampton. She was purchased
by the Union Steamship Co. for £26,000 on 3rd January
1873 and, being known as a heavy consumer of coal, was immediately
refitted with a 2 cylinder compound engine driving a single
screw and joined the Southampton - Cape Town service. In 1880
she spent a short time on the monthly Zanzibar service before
being sold, in the October, to the Sultan of Zanzibar as his
private yacht. When not required by the Sultan she traded between
Zanzibar and Bombay. In 1889 she was acquired by Mahallah &
Co. of Zanzibar and operated by them for the Zanzibar authorities
who could not afford the running costs of the vessel. By 1902
she was no longer in service and was broken up in June 1904.
ASIATIC was built in 1872 by Whitehaven
Ship Building Co. at Whitehaven with a tonnage of 2087grt, a
length of 299ft 11in, a beam of 34ft 2in and a service speed
of 12 knots. Sister of Elder Dempster's Nigreta she was delivered
for the mail run in September 1872. In 1880 she was relegated
to the Intermediate service after being replaced by the Trojan.
She was sold to H. Martini of Southampton in 1888 but retained
her name until 1891 when she was sold on to G. Tweedy &
Co. of London who renamed her Jaffar. In 1893 she was sold to
P. W. Richardson of London with whom she remained until 1895
when she was scrapped.
NUBIAN was built in 1876 by C. Mitchell
& Co. with a tonnage of 3091grt, a length of 359ft, a beam
of 38ft 7in and a service speed of 12 knots. With a figurehead
of a nubian she was bought on the stocks for the mail service
and entered service with two funnels. In 1883 she was paired
with the Arab on an experimental service between Liverpool and
Newport News, a service that was quickly discontinued after
both ships had completed two voyages. She was equipped with
a triple expansion engine, new boilers and a high pressure cylinder
in 1891 emerging from the yard with only one funnel. On 21st
December 1892 she ran ashore in the River Tagus whilst approaching
Lisbon under the command of the local pilot. Insured for £125,000
she became a total loss although much of the cargo was salvaged.
GERMAN (1) was built in 1877 by Wm.
Denny & Bros. at Dumbarton with a tonnage of 3028grt, a
length of 350ft, a beam of 39ft 6in and a service speed of 13.5
knots. She was launched on 27th June 1877 and built as a fast
'19 days to the Cape' steamer for the mail service. Costing
£75,621, payable in four instalments, the intention was
that she would complete the round voyage without the need to
bunker en route by using 300 tons of reserve coal. On her maiden
voyage she sailed 5924 miles on 955 tons of coal completing
the voyage to the Cape in 19days 8 hours. Her design and performance
was used as the basis for the subsequent nine ships which all
had a similar profile. She was completed 3.5 months early and
on her way out of the Clyde stuck on the Leven Bank for the
duration of two tides. In 1889 she was transferred to the Intermediate
service. She was sold to Navigazione Generale Italiana (N.G.I.)
in 1896 and renamed Sempione. After a further six years service
she was reduced to a coal hulk in October 1902.
PRETORIA was built in 1878 by Wm. Denny
& Bros. at Dumbarton with a tonnage of 3199grt, a length
of 350ft, a beam of 39ft 6in and a service speed of 13.5 knots.
Completed within six months of the keel laying and two months
ahead of contract she cost £70,055 and was built for the
mail service. In May 1879 she was used as a troopship during
the Zulu War and following the defeat of the British at Isandhlwana
carried the 91st Highland Regiment consisting of 942 men non-stop
to Durban in a then record time of 24 days 8 hrs. Together with
the Asiatic and the Moor she was present at Queen Victoria's
Golden Jubilee Spithead review in 1887. In 1888 she was equipped
with a triple expansion engine and transferred to the Intermediate
service. She was sold to The Quebec Steam Ship Company of Southampton,
a Furness Withy company, in 1897 without a change of name. In
1902, following a fire, she was abandoned at sea but subsequently
salvaged and repaired. Sold to Khedivial Mail & Graving
Dock Steam Ship Co. in 1907 she was renamed Saidieh. On 1st
June 1915 she was torpedoed by U-6 6 miles north east of the
Elbow buoy in the English Channel with the loss of 8 lives.
DURBAN was built in 1877 by James Laing
& Co. at Sunderland with a tonnage of 2875grt, a length
of 360ft, a beam of 38ft 6in and a service speed of 12 knots.
She was delivered for the mail run in June 1877 and continued
for eleven years until transferred to the Intermediate service
in 1888. In 1891 plans were made to install a triple expansion
engine but these were abandoned and she was relegated to cargo
carrying only. On 11th June 1893 she was wrecked at Socorro
Point near Santa Cruz in Tenerife during a voyage from Durban
to Southampton with a cargo of wool and hides.
UNION (2) was built in 1878 by Aitken
Mansel at Glasgow with a tonnage of 113grt, a length of 90ft
6in, a beam of 20ft and a service speed of 9 knots. She was
a tug built for service at Durban. For her delivery voyage she
was rigged as a topsail schooner, the mast being removed on
arrival. Coal was carried in wooden cattle-pen deck houses and
the voyage took 45 days at an average speed which was similar
to that of the Dane when she inaugurated the mail run in 1857.
In September 1894 she was lost on the bar at the port of Chinde
at the mouth of the Zambezi River.
ARAB was built in 1879 by J & G
Thompson & Co. at Glasgow with a tonnage of 3170grt, a length
of 350ft, a beam of 40ft 2in and a service speed of 12 knots.
She was delivered for the mail run in 1879 and in 1883 was paired
with the Nubian on the experimental Liverpool - Newport News
- Baltimore service. In 1885 she was used as the base ship at
Suakin as part of the expedition to relieve General Charles
Gordon at Khartoum. Unfortunately, the force was delayed through
dallying and arrived too late to prevent Gordon from being murdered
by the forces of Abdullah al Mahdi in the April. She was equipped
with a triple expansion engine and high pressure boilers in
1889 but in 1891 was relegated to the Intermediate service where
she inaugurated the Cape to Mauritius service. Although transferred
to the Union-Castle Mail Steamship Co on 8th March 1900 she
was surplus to requirements and put up for sale, sold to German
owners and broken up.
TROJAN
was built in 1880 by J & G Thompson & Co. at Glasgow
with a tonnage of 3555grt, a length of 364ft 6in, a beam of
42ft 7in and a service speed of 12 knots. The company's largest
ship at the time she was the first in the fleet to have her
dining room lit by electric light and the first of three similar
vessels built between 1881 and 1883. In 1887 she was the company's
first ship to be re-engined with the new triple expansion engine
which was also a first for builders T. Richardson & Sons
of Hartlepool. She was transferred to the Intermediate service
in 1889 and refrigerated cargo space was installed in 1896.
In October 1899 she was converted into H.M. Hospital Ship No.10
and, during her Boer War service, was transferred to the Union-Castle
fleet following the merger. However, she was surplus to requirements
and put up for sale. Purchased by Elder Dempster and renamed
Wassau she was deployed on their Beaver Line service between
Liverpool and Canada. In June 1901 she was chartered to Franco-Canadian
S.N. Co. for three voyages between Dunkirk, Bordeaux and Quebec.
She was sold to J. Goutte of Marseilles as the Islam and was
broken up at Marseilles in 1903. (Photo: The Ship Society of
South Africa)
SPARTAN was built in 1881 by J &
G Thompson & Co. at Glasgow with a tonnage of 3487grt, a
length of 364ft 6in, a beam of 42ft 7in and a service speed
of 12 knots. Sister of the Trojan she was completed for the
mail run in 1881 but transferred to the Intermediate service
in 1889. In November 1899 she was used as a troopship during
the Boer War. Surplus to requirements when Union-Castle was
formed in 1900 she was sold to A. Fragala of Catania, Sicily
and renamed Fume. After a further two years service she was
broken up in Italy in April 1902.
MOOR was built in 1881 by Aitken &
Mansel at Glasgow with a tonnage of 3688grt, a length of 365ft,
a beam of 45ft 10in and a service speed of 12 knots. She was
delivered for the mail run in December 1881 and commenced her
maiden voyage to the Cape in the following January with a black
hull. In 1883 she broke the Plymouth to Cape Town record by
completing the passage in 18days 13hrs 17mins and then returned
in 18days 2hrs 28mins. When war looked likely following Russia's
threats to Turkey over rights of passage through the Sea of
Marmara and territorial claims against China in 1885 she was
taken over at Simonstown and equipped with 4 x 6inch guns to
patrol the South African coast as far as St Lucia Bay as an
Armed Merchant Cruiser. In 1888 she was given a triple expansion
engine which enabled to complete the mail run in 17 days and
in 1894 was lengthened by 44ft and a second dummy funnel added.
During the same year her single propeller shaft snapped but
by fitting temporary keys across the break was able to limp
to Dakar. Two days after the formation of Union-Castle in 1900
she completed the final Union sailing from Cape Town but was
no longer fast enough for the mail run. On 11th March 1901 she
was sold to Royal Mail Steam Packet Co., renamed La Plata and
given a white livery. She was sold to the Polytechnic Touring
Association of London in January 1908 and renamed The Viking.
She was deployed operating one class cruises to the Norwegian
Fjords and the Mediterranean. In June 1910 her engine room telegraph
failed and she proceeded to steam ashore in Geiranger Fjord
on the only shelving beach in the area. She came off undamaged
after three days. In 1913 she was finally broken up at Zwijndrecht
in Holland.
ATHENIAN
was built in 1881 by Aitken & Mansel at Glasgow with a tonnage
of 3877grt, a length of 365ft, a beam of 45ft 9in and a service
speed of 12 knots. In October 1882 she was the first ship to
use Cape Town's new Robinson Graving Dock. She was re-engined
with a triple expansion engine in 1886 and reduced the passage
time to Cape Town to 17days 9hrs and in 1896 reduced the homeward
record on two occasions .On 29th December 1897 she was sold
to the Canadian Pacific Railway Co. for use out of Vancouver
on the Klondike gold rush route, sailing from Southampton via
Cape Horn on 12th February 1898. After six voyages on the Vancouver
- Skagway - Wrangel route she was laid up until deployed on
the trans-Pacific route in 1900, during which she made one call
at Vladivostock, before being laid up again. In 1904 she was
chartered to Osaka Shosen K.K. and used as a supply ship following
the Russo-Japanese war. She inaugurated the Osaka - Darien service
in January 1905 and was finally delivered to K. Kishimoto at
Osaka for breaking up on 14th September 1907. (Photo: Tom Rayner
Collection)
CARNARVON was built in 1883 by Day,
Summers & Co. at Northam, Southampton with a tonnage of
104grt, a length of 90ft 1in, and a beam of 17ft 1in. Built
for service as a tug at Durban she completed her delivery voyage
rigged as a schooner with coal being carried in wooden bunkers.
She was transferred to Laurenço Marques (Maputu) in 1890
and remained there until 1896 when she was sold to a local company,
Silva Vianna & Co. She was posted as missing in November
1902.
MEXICAN was built in 1883 by James Laing
& Co. at Sunderland with a tonnage of 4668grt, a length
of 378ft 2in, a beam of 47ft and a service speed of 12 knots.
When she entered service in 1883 she was the largest ship calling
at South African ports. During the Russian scare in May 1885
she carried troops to Hong Kong where she remained as a garrison
ship until the crisis passed, returning to Cape Town in the
July. In November 1899 she was used to carry troops to South
Africa during the Boer War. On 5th April 1900, shortly after
being transferred to Union-Castle, she sailed for Southampton
with 102 passengers and the mail. When 80 miles north of Cape
Town and proceeding slowly through dense fog she was in collision
with Tatem's Winkfield and holed. The passengers and mails were
transferred to the Winkfield while attempts were made to plug
the holes. Unfortunately, the ship continued to fill with water
and by noon of the following day the captain and emergency crew
abandoned the ship which sank within the hour. She was the newly
formed Union-Castle Line's first loss.
TARTAR was built in 1883 by Aitken &
Mansel at Kelvinhaugh, Glasgow with a tonnage of 4425grt, a
length of 376ft 5in, a beam of 47ft and a service speed of 12
knots. Joining the mail run in May 1883 all her first class
berths were located amidships and lit by electric light. Although
the carbon filament lights gave little more light than a candle
they were, nevertheless, welcomed. She was initially equipped
with a compound engine because, although the new triple expansion
engine was coming into vogue, few engine builders could handle
the conversions which required stronger high pressure boilers.
In any case, triple expansion engines were not necessarily faster
but more economical. In 1886 she lowered to passage time to
Cape Town from Plymouth to 18 days 2 hrs 21 mins and, two years
later, lowered the return passage time to 17 days 23 hrs 37
mins. A triple expansion engine was finally installed in 1889
and, at the same time, the funnel was heightened by 10ft and
a small promenade deck added at the base of the mizzen mast.
On 28th December 1897, together with the Athenian, she was sold
to Canadian Pacific for their Vancouver - Skagway, Alaska service.
On 5th February 1898 she left Southampton on a passenger carrying
delivery voyage to Vancouver via Tenerife, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos
Aires and Valparaiso arriving on 1st April. She sailed on her
first voyage to Skagway on 28th April but after six voyages
and the decline in the gold rush she was laid up. In December
1898, during a voyage from Hong Kong to Vancouver she called
at Honolulu, Oahu Island, Hawaii to become the first CPR ship
to berth there. She was chartered to the US Government in July
1899 for service between the USA and the Philippines which had
come under American control following the war with Spain during
April - July 1898. She reverted to CPR's trans Pacific service
in May 1900 where she remained until August 1907 when she was
sold to Japanese owners. On 17th October in the same year she
collided with CPR's Charmer during a voyage from Vancouver to
Japan and had to be beached at English Bay. Laid up locally
she was eventually sold to K. Kishimoto in March 1908 and broken
up at Osaka.
TROJAN
was built in 1880 by J & G Thompson & Co. at Glasgow
with a tonnage of 3555grt, a length of 364ft 6in, a beam of
42ft 7in and a service speed of 12 knots. The company's largest
ship at the time she was the first in the fleet to have her
dining room lit by electric light and the first of three similar
vessels built between 1881 and 1883. In 1887 she was the company's
first ship to be re-engined with the new triple expansion engine
which was also a first for builders T. Richardson & Sons
of Hartlepool. She was transferred to the Intermediate service
in 1889 and refrigerated cargo space was installed in 1896.
In October 1899 she was converted into H.M. Hospital Ship No.10
and, during her Boer War service, was transferred to the Union-Castle
fleet following the merger. However, she was surplus to requirements
and put up for sale. Purchased by Elder Dempster and renamed
Wassau she was deployed on their Beaver Line service between
Liverpool and Canada. In June 1901 she was chartered to Franco-Canadian
S.N. Co. for three voyages between Dunkirk, Bordeaux and Quebec.
She was sold to J. Goutte of Marseilles as the Islam and was
broken up at Marseilles in 1903. (Photo: The Ship Society of
South Africa) 
ATHENIAN
was built in 1881 by Aitken & Mansel at Glasgow with a tonnage
of 3877grt, a length of 365ft, a beam of 45ft 9in and a service
speed of 12 knots. In October 1882 she was the first ship to
use Cape Town's new Robinson Graving Dock. She was re-engined
with a triple expansion engine in 1886 and reduced the passage
time to Cape Town to 17days 9hrs and in 1896 reduced the homeward
record on two occasions .On 29th December 1897 she was sold
to the Canadian Pacific Railway Co. for use out of Vancouver
on the Klondike gold rush route, sailing from Southampton via
Cape Horn on 12th February 1898. After six voyages on the Vancouver
- Skagway - Wrangel route she was laid up until deployed on
the trans-Pacific route in 1900, during which she made one call
at Vladivostock, before being laid up again. In 1904 she was
chartered to Osaka Shosen K.K. and used as a supply ship following
the Russo-Japanese war. She inaugurated the Osaka - Darien service
in January 1905 and was finally delivered to K. Kishimoto at
Osaka for breaking up on 14th September 1907. (Photo: Tom Rayner
Collection) 
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