Looking through some of my old ship pix I found these taken in Bahrain and Muscat in the 80s shortly before she went for scrap, including one of the Virgins Cage in No. 3 hold.
How were virgins marked on the cargo plan?
Were cadets made to do cargo watch while they were being loaded and discharged.
Do you need to take hold temperatures when virgins are stowed?
And, most importantly, how were they lifted aboard and discharged?
To these and many other questions I have a need for further knowledge!
Great pictures which take me back in time. I was a cadet on her in 1972/3, an experience not to be forgotten. The 'Virgins Cage' was for unaccompanied ladies that could opt to stay within the cage should they feel uncomfortable in the presence of so many males. She used to carry about 1200 passengers, over 1000 of them being accomodated either on deck or in the upper tween decks. Pretty uncomfortable when full to capacity and working cargo at the same time through the tween decks. Ships company was supplemented by a Security Officer and two 'Gunners' to keep law and order. In my time the security officer was an ex RSM Royal Marines and his parade ground voice (in Hindi) would make everybody freeze.
Home port was Bombay and a round trip was about three weeks to Karachi, Gwadar, Muscat, Dubai, Doha, Bahrain, Kuwait, Khorramshahr, Basrah, Kuwait, Bahrain, Dubai, Muscat, Karachi, Bombay, this was usually followed by a week in Bombay before repeating the schedule.
Really nostalgic pictures these of my first ship. Joined her (new ship) in London, July 1947 as a first trip cadet and over the next year or so after reaching Bombay did 13 consecutive trips to Busrah via ports.
The Virgins' Cage must have been constructed at a later stage, and perhaps the compartment could better have been called the "Wanted On Voyage Baggage Room"!
did a trip on dwarka mid 79 and remember the virgins cage , 3rd mate used to lock it up everynight. same trip we did a dry dock in bombay and when the surveyor climbed out of the hold his shifter dropped and went straight through the deck.
also the skipper had drilled holes in the cadets cabin deck and carpets were laid on duck boards as the cabin flooded in wet weather.
good experience anyone know the whereabouts of a fellow junior paul orr and a geoff tyler I would love to get in touch
peter scott
I was on the Dara, Dwarka's sister ship ,before she caught fire in the Gulf and can remember the deck passengers sleeping everywhere including in the lifeboats and as 2nd R/O one of my jobs was the weekly testing of the permanently fitted lifeboat radio, not a pleasant job as the lifeboat was also used as a toilet !! The Karanja/Macs also had a Virgins Retreat when I sailed on her after the Dara, on the Bombay-East and South Africa run.
Ern Barrett
Hey there! I would love to use these pictures in a visual arts project that includes the Dwarka steamer. Would you possibly be open to sending me high resolution copies of these? I'm more than happy to credit you for them
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