Photographs of
Travel by Air & Sea to East Africa

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Travel to and from East Africa

During the 1940s and 1950s, travel to Kenya by sea, either coming via the Suez Canel or around the Cape. Every four years, civil servants were entitled to "home" leave. Here are some ships (and shipping lines).

ss Mantola

Departing London docks

ss Mantola

Arrival at Mombasa

Photographs of the ss Mantola in London. Gordon aboard the ship in Kilindini Harbour, Mombasa
Mantola arrived on May 24, 1949. (Photos: G. Mumford)

In 1953, Gordon went on long leave, on the Union Castle liner Rhodesia Castle.
A photograph of the Rhodesia Castle can be found on Björn Larsson's website
Maritime Timetable Images, which has images, timetables, and other memorable about ships and shipping lines.

1951 - SS Slemmestad

In March 1951, the ss Slemmestad caught fire when leaving Dar es Salaam. They got the ship, loaded with safety matches and other combustibles, out of the main shipping lane, and dropped her anchors about a mile off the coast adjacent to Government House. These picture were taken during a trip out to the ship. The story of the disaster is related by Richard Crow, a Dar harbour pilot (http://www.merchantnavyofficers.com/richard2.html). Photos (below) were supplied by John Orton.

SLEMMESTAD

Builders          :  Burmeister & Wain, Copenhagen, Denmark. 1928
Length             :  376 feet
Beam               :  53 feet
Displacement   :   4,295 tons
Machinery       :  Twin B & W  6 cyl. diesel. 490 hp
Position           :  06º.45’.40” S  39º.18’.52” E

The Slemmestad managed by the Norwegian company A.P. Klaveness was on a voyage from Gothenburg to Madagascar when she caught fire off Dar es Salaam on the evening of 27 March 1951. The ship had left the port earlier that day laden with 3,500 tons of general cargo, including bitumen, brandy, kerosene, lube oil, matches and bagged cement.

  Some seven miles offshore a fire broke out on the upper deck and the Master called the port to advise he was returning to the anchorage. Four of the crew took to a liferaft and on arrival the remaining crew were taken off by the pilot boat. The tug Linden arrived and beached the ship on Daphne Reef. In the meantime the crew in the liferaft had been spotted from the air and picked up by a dhow. The fire spread throughout the ship and barrels of bitumen and cylinders of acetylene exploded turning the burning vessel into a large Roman candle.

  The wreck continued to burn until 9 April by which time the superstructure had collapsed and the sides of the hull had buckled from the heat. The ship and what remained of the cargo were surveyed and declared a total loss and the fire attributed to a broken fuel line that had sprayed burning oil around the engine room and prevented the fire pumps from being started. There had been a proposal to tow the ship away for scrap but in view of the hull damage the wreck was left on the reef.

  The wreck was marked on the charts as visible for many years until 1970 when the symbol was eventually deleted by the Hydrographic Department after reports that the remains were no longer visible. Today the wreck is a popular dive site, with the cargo of cement bags still prominent in the remains.

Information supplied by Kevin Patience