The "Minocher Cowasjee"
Thankyou chaps for the kind remarks about the poem, I do appreciate them.
Initially I had helpful posts from Terence, Gdynia and David Edge about this ship and we have made good progress and at the same time exposed my dodgy memory.
Gdynia suggested I contact the Pakistan newspaper "Dawn" which has a columnist by the name Cowasjee:
Dear Mr Cowasjee,
A search for details of the vessel "Cowasjee Dinshaw" on the web produced little result except for references to the business of that name which was founded in Aden. I see that you write for a newspaper and because of your name I wonder if you know anything about that old ship.
The "Cowasjee Dinshaw" was lost in a Cyclone in the Indian Ocean in 1956 or 57. I was radio officer on the British ship "Mahanada" at the time and was in communication with the lost ship from a distance of 80 miles until she foundered. That incident has stayed with me; I am now retired and have time to conduct a little research into the loss but so far have drawn a blank.
The "Cowasjee Dinshaw" was Indian flagged I think but it may have been from Pakistan.
Yours sincerely
Harry Nicholson,
Part of Mr Cowasjee's reply:
The ship you seem to be referring to was perhaps the ‘Minocher Cowasjee’ (ex Frakda ex Benrinous). She was lost at sea in 1956 with all hands on deck.
Dear Mr Cowasgee,......
Time has played tricks with memory, the lost ship will be the MC as you say, but it was lost in 57, not 56.
I have been looking for more info on the web; a German "On this Day" site has:
ZEITGESCHEHEN 24 January
1957 - English (sic) cargo ship "Minocher Cowasjee" disappears with its 51-koepfigen crew after a last position signal 1,500 nautical miles southeast from Madagascar.
I see from my seamans discharge book that I was 2nd radio officer on Thos & Jno Brocklebanks ss "Mahanada" at the time and have strong memories of that night and the storm and talking to the stricken ship by morse code. Her operator was sending out SOS; our bridge officers calculated that she was about 80 miles away. I remember when I gave our captain the distress message he said to "tell them we will come when we can, we cannot alter course at present, I have to keep her head into this or we will be over". It was a most savage cyclonic storm and the seas where huge, our course was adjusted so that we could ride out the storm more safely with the ships head into the weather. There were a couple of other ships in the vicinity and closer to the stricken ship than the Mahanada (traffic was heavier than normal on that route as the Suez Canal was blocked), none of us found anything in that area to the best of my memory.
When we docked at Colombo I met a British mate in the Grand Oriental Hotel who told me that he had walked off the MC in Jakarta after his requests that the cargo be restowed were ignored. He said that the vessel had been incorrectly loaded in Vladivostok and behaved badly on her way to Jakarta.
I notice on your site at Dawn you have a piece where you record the passing of Lord Brandon and mention his visit to Pakistan in order to be council in a marine inquiry and wonder if that was the inquiry into the loss of the MC. Would the proceedings and result of that inquiry be available, or a newspaper report perhaps.?
It is a long time ago, but I do think about it still and am trying to write up the story into a poem which might leave the memory with some dignity......etc
Harry Nicholson
Then from Dave Edge:
Harry,
From 'Ben Line' by Graeme Somner:- Benrinnes, O.N. 145884, 5415 grt, 420 x 55 x 28 feet. 3 steam turbines, 3250 ihp, 12 knots. 1921 completed by Irvines Shipbuilding Co, West Hartlepool for Neptune Steam Navigation (Furness Withy) as 'Parisiana'. 1922 renamed "London Exchange", 1938 "Benrinnes", 1949 sold East & West SS Co, Pakistan and renamed "Fatakada", 1955 renamed "Minocher Cowasjee" (same owners). 21 - 12 - 1956 sailed from Dairen for Antwerp. 24 - 1 - 1957 reported in position 25.20S 68.00E, SE of Mauritius but thereafter disappeared.
Best wishes for Christmas & New Year,
Regards,
Dave Edge.
So I had mixed up the name of Brocklebanks Agents in Aden with the name of the ship (both have Cowasjee in the name) and I got the flag wrong.
So I will need to tweak the poem just a bit.
But what made me get goose pimples was when I read Dave's post and realised that she had been built only a mile from where I was born 17 yrs later and that my Dad at the time she was built would have probably been hammering rivets into the side of a ship in the adjoining shipyard of Wm Gray.