Sea Life 1952. Modasa Potted History

 The "Modasa" was one of a class of six near-sister ships owned by British India Steam Navigation Co. Built by Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson, Wallsend-on-Tyne, she was a 9,070 gross ton ship, length 465.2ft x beam 58.3ft x depth 32.6ft, one funnel, two masts, twin screw and a speed of 13.5 knots.

There was accommodation for 127-1st and 41-2nd class passengers. Launched on 24th December 1920, she entered service in December 1921 on the UK to India or East Africa service and in 1927 carried the first large export cargo of maize from East Africa to London.

In 1933 she arrived at Middlesborough to discharge her cargo before proceeding to London for repairs. She had 450 tons of oil in her tanks and Customs ruled that, as this constituted a coastal voyage, this oil was liable to customs duty. The row was only settled by taking the ship to Antwerp for repairs, this being classed as a non-coastal voyage.

Between 1939 and 1945 she was employed on both commercial and government service and was refurbished in 1946 to carry 183 single class passengers. She then resumed the East Africa service until being sold for scrap in December 1953. On January 23rd 1954, after unloading her cargo at the Tyne, she proceeded to Blyth where she was scrapped.

The voyage I sailed on the Modasa in 1951 was somewhat different to the typical 1953 voyage listed below.
A typical 4-month voyage for 1953 was –

3rd June Sail.......... ...........London,
15-16 June call .................Port Said,
19-20th June call... ...........Port Sudan,
23rd June call ...................Aden,
30th June - 6th July call..... Mombasa,
7th July call....................... Tanga,
8th July call....................... Zanzibar,
9th - 12th July call............. Dar-es-Salaam,
14th - 16th July call........... Lindi,
20th - 23rd July call........... Beira,

Return Voyage

28th - 30th July call........... Dar-es-Salaam,
31st July call..................... Zanzibar,
1st - 2nd August call......... Tanga,
3rd - 8th Aug. call............. Mombasa,
14th Aug. call....................Aden,
17th - 18th Aug. call......... Port Sudan,
21st - 22nd Aug. call........ Port Said,
28th - 30th Aug. call......... Marseilles,
1st Sept. call.................... Gibraltar,
 7th Sept. Arrive............... London

[Sea Safari, British India S.N.Co African Ships and Services by Peter C. Kohler] - [Posted to The ShipsList by Ted Finch - 27 July 1998]