“I name this ship “Strathallan” and may God bless all who sail in her.” These words would probably have been spoken by the Countess of Cromer (wife of a P & O Director) when releasing the bottle of champagne (or Scotch?) to smash against the bow of this vessel as it was launched on 23rd September 1937 from Yard 723 at Barrow-in-Furness. Being built by Vickers Armstrong, this was the fifth of the “Strath” ships, which were all named after the Scottish links of the Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company who had commissioned this vessel for their fleet. (‘Strath’ means a wide valley and is also used as a prefix for larger areas in Scotland). Having been launched, there was a lot more work to do so this activity continued until March 1938 when all was complete and the ship was handed over to P & O for service.

It is unlikely that many of those persons connected with this new ship, as a workman or as a passenger, would have known about a previous vessel of the same name which departed from Gravesend (Kent) on the 12th October 1858 bound for New Zealand. This ‘Strathallan” was a wooden ship of 551 tons which sailed under Captain W.R.Willamson and arrived at Timaru, County Geraldine, S. Canterbury N.Z. on 14th January 1859. The first significant influx of immigrants, nearly 100, were disembarked at Timaru - the ship had difficulty in landing the passengers due to the rough weather but when this cleared she stood in 3 miles, and boatmen brought the passengers and baggage ashore over a period of 24 hours. She then sailed along the coast to Lyttleton, arriving on the 21st January 1859, where another 100 or so persons were discharged - by coincidence one of this number was a namesake of mine! Most of the immigrants on board were families with their children, thus there were nearly 100 children aboard, but two children were counted as being one adult for the purpose of ascertaining the number of passengers the ship could carry. This was important for among other regulations, The Passenger Act 1852 laid down there should be a minimum of 15 sq. feet on the passenger decks for each statutory adult, therefore passenger decks with sufficient space for 200 adults could accommodate 150 adults and 100 children. In addition to the general passenger decks there appeared to be a graded higher class of accommodation - Chief Cabin, Second Cabin and Steerage, which on this particular voyage carried a total of 33½ passengers. Two babies were born en-route, and not everyone reached their destination for there were seven deaths including five children. Possibly this ship made several journeys to New Zealand for it was also there a year earlier when it was reported that the conduct of the Captain, John Todd, left much to be desired due to drink. He resigned and the chief officer was given the command. Perhaps the annals of history may provide an account of the demise of this old vessel, but come whatever it could not surpass that of its famous 1930’s successor.

Returning to March 1938, the completed new Strathallan which was built to carry passengers and mail to India and Australia must have looked a magnificent ship; some 668ft x 82 ft., 23,722 tons powered by Parsons geared turbines with twin screws and capable of 21 knots. Painted white overall except the funnel and masts which were painted buff yellow - she matched the colours of the other four ‘Straths’ - and was now raring to join them on the high seas.
Her Maiden voyage to Brisbane commenced from London (Tilbury) on the 18th March and she most likely sailed with a full compliment of 448 first class and 563 tourist class passengers - looked after by the ship’s company of some 563 crew members. It is no doubt always an exciting time when a new ship makes its first voyage and one can imagine the scene on the dockside as the ropes were cast off - the ship started moving away - passengers cheering, waving and throwing streamers - bands playing and whistles blowing including blasts from the ship’s own steam hooter. Of course, only the wealthy could afford to be a passenger, to wine, dine and dance their way to Indian or Australia in 1938.

Apparently, the route was north of the equator and the shadier side of the ship was on the left (Port) going out and on the right (Starboard) coming back. The more affluent passengers therefore paid extra for cabins ‘Port Out and Starboard Home’ which is why they were called POSH! By coincidence, a week into her maiden voyage she met her sister ship, Stratheden, at Marseilles. (The Stratheden was nigh on identical and had been launched on June 10th 1937 and sailed on her maiden voyage on the 16th December.) They must have looked quite spectacular together.

The Strathallan’s maiden voyage extended to just over three months as she returned to Tilbury on June 24th 1938, and then spent a while cruising before setting off again to Australia. Three more round journeys to ‘down under’ where behind her when she left Tilbury for the fourth trip. However, by this time dark clouds were looming on the horizon and for the cause of that we must go back to 1933 when Hitler became Chancellor of the German Reich. Then followed a history of broken treaties and pacts, together with horrific stories as to what was taking place in Germany. In March 1936 German troops were moved into the demilitarised Rhineland, and two years later they streamed into Austria. Czechoslovakia was taken over in March 1939 and Hitler was able to make a triumphant entry into Prague. He now had his sights set on Poland, and already in our Island we were digging air-raid shelters, filling sandbags and issuing gasmasks.