British India Steam Navigation Company

{{Short description|Former British company}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2017}} {{Use British English|date=March 2017}} {{Infobox company |name= British India Steam Navigation Company |logo=House Flag of the British India Steam Navigation Company.svg |image= BI Nevasa badge.jpg |image_size= 250px |image_caption= Souvenir badge from {{SS|Nevasa||2}} showing the BI [[Maritime flag#House flag|house flag]]: a white [[Swallowtail (flag)|swallowtail]] with a red [[saltire]] |type= ship owner and ship operator |industry= [[transport]] |successor= [[Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company|P&O]] |defunct= 1972 |key_people= |products= passenger and cargo shipping |revenue= |num_employees= |parent= P&O (1914 onwards) |footnotes= |founded= 1856 |location= |website=http://www.poheritage.com/our-history/company-guides/british-india-steam-navigation-company }} '''British India Steam Navigation Company''' ("'''BI'''") was formed in 1856 as the [[Calcutta and Burmah Steam Navigation Company]].

==History== The ''Calcutta and Burmah Steam Navigation Company'' had been formed out of Mackinnon, Mackenzie & Co, a trading partnership of the [[Scotland|Scots]] [[Sir William Mackinnon, 1st Baronet|William Mackinnon]] and [[Robert Mackenzie (trader)|Robert Mackenzie]], to carry mail between [[Kolkata|Calcutta]] and [[Rangoon]]. It became British India SN Co in 1862. Under the hand of [[James Mackay, 1st Earl of Inchcape|Lord Inchcape]], who had become chairman in 1913, the company became part of the [[Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company|P&O]] group of companies in 1914 through a complex [[Consolidation (business)|amalgamation]], but continued with its own identity and organisation for another nearly 60 years until 1972, when it was entirely absorbed into P&O. P&O was eventually sold to Emirati logistics company [[DP World]] in 2006.

==Fleet and routes== As one of the largest shipowners of all time, the company owned more than 500 ships and managed 150 more for other owners. At its height in 1922, BI had more than 160 ships in the fleet, many built on [[Clydeside]], [[Scotland]]. The main shipping routes of the line were: [[United Kingdom|Britain]] to [[India]], [[Australia]], [[Kenya]], [[Tanganyika (territory)|Tanganyika]]. The company ran services from India to [[Pakistan]], [[Ceylon]], [[Bay of Bengal]], [[Singapore]], [[British Malaya|Malaya]], [[Java (island)|Java]], [[Thailand]], [[Japan]], [[Persian Gulf]], [[East Africa]] and [[South Africa]]. BI had a long history of service to the British and Indian governments through trooping and other military contracts. In the last decade of its operational existence BI carried thousands of school children on educational cruises.

{{SS|Mantola|1916|2}} was sunk in February 1917 by a torpedo from a German [[submarine]] off the coast of [[Ireland]] with a substantial cargo of silver bullion.

The cargo ship {{SS|Gairsoppa||2}}, carrying [[silver bullion]], [[pig iron]] and tea, which was sunk at great depth by the {{GS|U-101|1940|6}} in February 1941 some {{convert|300|nmi}} southwest of [[Galway Bay]], Ireland, carried the richest cargo of any sunken ship in world history.<ref>C. Michael Hogan. 2011</ref>

Some of the company's better known passenger ships included {{SS|Rajula||2}}, {{HMT|Dunera||2}}, {{SS|Scindia||2}}, {{MV|Sirdhana||2}}, [[SS Heraklion|''Leicestershire'']], {{SS|Dwarka||2}}, {{SS|Dumra||2}}, the sister ships {{SS|Kampala||2}} and {{SS|Karanja||2}}, and {{SS|Kenya||2}} and {{SS|Uganda|1952|2}}, and {{MV|Dara||2}}, which was sunk by a terrorist bomb in 1961.

{{SS|Nevasa||2}} of 1956 was the final passenger ship built for BI. Serving as a [[troopship]] until redundant in 1962, ''Nevasa'' was assigned new duties with the BI educational [[cruise ship]] flotilla until 1974, when she became uneconomic<ref>{{cite web |title=Ship Fact Sheet - Nevasa (1956) |url= http://www.poheritage.com/Upload/Mimsy/Media/factsheet/93946NEVASA-1956pdf.pdf |website=P&O Heritage |access-date=20 September 2020}}</ref> due a fourfold increase in crude oil prices and was scrapped in 1975 having earlier been joined in this trade by the more economic ''[[SS Uganda (1952)|Uganda]]''. The highly popular ''Uganda'' was taken up ([[STUFT]]) by the British [[Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)|Ministry of Defence]] in 1982 as a [[hospital ship]] during the [[Falklands War]] with [[Argentina]]. Returning to BI's tradition of government service again in 1983 – this time as a troopship – ''Uganda'' was "the last BI" when finally withdrawn in 1985. ''[[SS Dwarka|Dwarka]]'' holds the distinction of closing British-India's true "liner" services, when withdrawn from the company's [[Persian Gulf]] local trades in 1982, in her 35th year.

==Company timeline== [[File:BItimeline.jpg]]

==Rank badges of [[Seafarer's professions and ranks|ship's complement]]== <gallery> File:British India Steam Navigation Company - Commander.png|Commander File:British India Steam Navigation Company - Chief officer with superior certificate.png|Chief Officer with superior certificate File:British India Steam Navigation Company - Chief officer with certificate.png|Chief Officer with certificate of rank File:British India Steam Navigation Company - 2nd officer with superior certificate.png|Second Officer with superior certificate File:British India Steam Navigation Company - 3rd officer with certificate of rank.png|Second Officer with certificate of rank File:British India Steam Navigation Company - 3rd officer with certificate.png|Third Officer with certificate of rank File:British India Steam Navigation Company - 4th officer with certificate.png|Fourth Officer with certificate of rank File:British India Steam Navigation Company - 3rd & 4th officer without certificate.png|Third & Fourth Officer without certificate File:British India Steam Navigation Company - Cadet.png|Cadet </gallery> <gallery> File:British India Steam Navigation Company - Chief engineer officer.png|Chief Engineer Officer File:British India Steam Navigation Company - 2nd engineer officer with superior certificate.png|Second Engineer Officer with superior certificate File:Placeholder-image.png|Second Engineer Officer with certificate of rank File:British India Steam Navigation Company - 3rd engineer officer with certificate.png|Third Engineer Officer with certificate File:Placeholder-image.png|Third Engineer Officer File:British India Steam Navigation Company - 4th engineer officer.png|Fourth Engineer Officer File:British India Steam Navigation Company - Junior engineer officer.png|Junior Engineer Officer </gallery> <gallery> File:British India Steam Navigation Company - Senior electrician.png|Senior Electrician File:British India Steam Navigation Company - Second electrician.png|Second Electrician File:British India Steam Navigation Company - Junior electrician.png|Junior Electrician </gallery> <gallery> File:British India Steam Navigation Company - Senior purser.png|Senior Purser File:British India Steam Navigation Company - Purser.png|Purser File:Placeholder-image.png|Assistant Purser </gallery> <gallery> File:British India Steam Navigation Company - Chief steward.png|Chief Steward File:British India Steam Navigation Company - 2nd steward.png|Second Steward File:British India Steam Navigation Company - 3rd steward.png|Extra Second Steward </gallery> <gallery> File:British India Steam Navigation Company - Doctor.png|Doctor File:British India Steam Navigation Company - Nurse sister.png|Nursing Sister File:British India Steam Navigation Company - Matron.png|Matron File:British India Steam Navigation Company - Assistant matron.png|Assistant Matron </gallery> Source:<ref>[http://www.biship.com/livery.htm ''BIShip.''] 2022-09-01.</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}} * C. Michael Hogan. 2011. [http://www.eoearth.org/article/SS_Gairsoppa_recovery?topic=49523 ''SS Gairsoppa recovery''. Topic ed. P.Saundry. Ed.-in-chief C.J.Cleveland. Encyclopedia of Earth. National Council for Science and the Environment, Washington DC]

==External links== {{Portal|Companies}} {{Commons category|British India Steam Navigation Company}} * [http://www.biship.com/ BI Ship Site] * [http://www.biship.com/history.htm A Short History of British India Steam Navigation] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20040415162821/http://www.clydesite.co.uk/clydebuilt/british-india.asp Clydeside built BI ships] * Miller, William H., ''The Last Blue Water Liners'', Conway Press, London, 1986 - {{ISBN|0-85177-400-8}} * Morton, Michael Quentin, "The British India Line in the Arabian Gulf, 1862-82", ''Liwa'' journal, December 2013, Vol. 5, No. 10, pp. 40–63 [https://web.archive.org/web/20140222010521/http://www.ncdr.ae/liwa/issues/LIWA10E.pdf] * {{PM20|FID=co/050410|TEXT=Documents and clippings about|NAME=}}

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