The corvette Galathea (1833-1861), The first Galathea Expedition took place from 1845 to 1847

and had political and scientific objectives. It was initiated by the King of Denmark, Christian VIII,

with its main purposes the handover of the Danish colonies in India, following their sale to the

British East India Company, as well as a final Danish attempt to explore and recolonise the

Nicobar Islands in the Indian Ocean.

The Galathea left Copenhagen on 24 June 1845 and, after a provisioning stop at

Madeira, sailed southwards around Africa to India, where she visited Tranquebar,

Pondicherry, Madras and Calcutta. In Calcutta an additional ship, the steamboat

Ganges, was purchased and the carrier Christine hired, to assist with work in the

Nicobar Islands. Considerable time and effort was expended at the Nicobars; most of

January 1846 was spent in the northern Nicobar islands, and February in the southern.

The TSS (Turbine Steam Ship)Maharaja, a ship built in 1879 was on a slightly different route this time. It went south to Madras, with it usual load of

Bengali and Punjabi convicts, together with inanimate provisions and mail

loaded from the EIC and the P&T in Calcutta. At Madras, it loaded a motley

group of confused souls, clothed in no more than dirty single dhotis and small

bundles of belongings.

The story of the TSS Maharaja that took the convicts is

equally interesting. Studying the records of the owners

Asiatic Steam navigation, it states that in 1925 the

company returned to its pre war strength when they

took delivery of other ships and two years later another

Maharaja -II relieved her namesake on the Andaman

mail run, the original ship was first renamed Maharanimail run, the original ship was first renamed Maharani

in 1926, then was sold to Japanese owners Machidi

Shokai in 1927, renamed as Zuisho Maru, later the ship

again changed hands, passing through Macao and Hong

Kong owners, before being owned by the Japanese

government and was eventually sunk by a US

submarine USS Ray SS271 in August 1944 off the

Borneo Ryuku Islands.

Ship RIMS Maharani Andaman

On 1st November, 1891 a Severe Tropical

Cyclone hit the Andaman Coast and

Caused heavy damages. The Ship RIMS

Enterprise (Maharani) was swept aside off

its anchor and dashed against the rocks

and was grounded near South Point shore.and was grounded near South Point shore.

The few who were saved were rescued by

the Female prisoners. There the female jail

was situated.

July 1, 1910: the SS Morea sailed with Savarkar

on board.

MS Dilwara

A stern view of MS Dilwara with the Arundel Castle in the background

HMS Dilwara took part in HRH King George VI's

Coronation Review. In April 1941 she took part in the

evacuation from Greece, and in 1942 she was

converted to an infantry landing ship.

The HMS Dilwara was also involved in the Madagascar

landings, whilst in 1943 she took part in the assaults on

the Burma coast where she was damaged by a mine,the Burma coast where she was damaged by a mine,

but survived and the damage was soon repaired. She

trooped between Singapore, Calcutta, the

Andaman Islands, Thailand, and George Townin Penang Malaysia in 1945.

SS Rajula seen in the late 1950s

London-registered passenger/cargo ship "Rajula" (8,496 tons gross, completed November 1926 by Barclay, Curle & Co. Ltd., Glasgow) arriving

at Penang in May 1971. As delivered she was certified to carry a total of 5,265 passengers (5,113 of them unberthed) but by the time of this

photo the number was down to 1,899 (including 426 bunked & 1,301 unberthed). Apart from war service she spent her whole life with B.I. on

the Madras-Straits service (the last 2 years being under the management of P&O General Cargo Division). In October 1973 she was sold to the

Shipping Corporation of India, renamed "Rangat" & placed on their Andaman & Nicobar Islands service but was laid up only 7 month later & 3

months after that (August 1974) was sold to Bombay shipbreakers.

The ocean liners such as S.S. Rajula, and its rival, The State of Madras, and much later their illustrious

successor, M.V. Chidambaram, used to call at Penang fortnightly on their 'Straits Service' between Madras (now

known as Chennai), Penang, Port Klang and Singapore.

Unfortunately, the Chidambaram was to last only 13 years in the Straits Service. On Feb 12, 1985, she was

carrying 702 passengers and a crew of 186 when she caught fire 500km off the Malabar coast of India. The

stricken liner was a heart-rending sight when she finally limped into Madras harbour with bodies floating on

her water-logged deck. The toll was 34 dead with 13 Malaysians among them.

An image of State Of Madras

Indian passenger-cargo ship 'State of

Haryana Original name"Santhia"

Bombay-registered passenger/cargo ship "State of Haryana" (8,908 tons gross, built by Barclay, Curle & Co Ltd., Whiteinch,

Glasgow), owned by the Shipping Corporation of India, at Ballard Pier, Bombay, in January 1968. She was completed in November

1950 as "Santhia" for the British India S.N. Co. of London (see picture #22595) & bought by S.C.I. in December 1966. She then ran

on the Bombay/East Africa service until 1974 when she was transferred to the Andaman Islands service under the name

"Nancowry" (not to be confused with the later ship of the same name, the ex-B.I. "Karanja"; see picture #21550) until reverting to

her old name & being laid up in 1976. She was scrapped in Bombay in 1977.

STATE OF BOMBAY

This ship had made a few trips to Andaman

S.S.State of Bombay docked on Kilindini Harbour. This ship was

one of the best ships for Indian passengers travelling from

Mombasa to Bombay

M V ANDAMAN

26 January 1974: The first pilgrimage of ninety-six Ex-Andaman Freedom Fighters

travelled by the ship M.V.Andamans and arrived at Port Blair. This group also included

family members, widows of those Ex-Andaman Freedom Fighters who had expired and

mainland feedom fighters like Manmath Nath Gupt with his wife and Sheel Bhadra

Yajee were also invited. They received a hero's welcome by the local people.

Indian passenger/cargo ship "Nancowry Earlier

known as British cargo-passenger ship 'Karanja'

Indian passenger/cargo ship "Nancowry" (10,294 tons gross, built 1948 by Alexander Stephen &

Sons Ltd. Linthouse, Glasgow & owned by Shipping Corporation of India) at Dammam, Saudi

Arabia, in January 1978. She was built at "Karanja" for British India Steam Nav. Co. of London &

bought by S.C.I. in 1976. She was broken up in Bombay in 1988.

Indian passenger ship 'Akbar' of 1972

Bombay-registered passenger ship "Akbar" (6,600 tong gross, built 1972 by Helsingr Skibs. & Msk., Helsingr, Denmark), owned

by Mogul Line Ltd., arriving at Mina Salman jetty, Bahrain, in July 1972. She was built to operate as a pilgrim ship with 80 1st class

passengers & 1,500 pilgrims or as a general cargo ship with 12 passengers only. In 1986 Mogul Line was merged into the Shipping

Corporation of India, for whom she is still operating (mid-2013) on the Indian mainland to Port Blair (Andaman Is.) service; her

present passenger capacity is given as 121 cabin & 1,414 bunk/deck.

M V Harshavardhana

S S princess wrecked on North Sentinel Island one of the Andaman Islands lies

to the west of the southern part of South Andaman Island.