# Searching for info on Chitral



## cmcd (Oct 19, 2011)

Hi there, I've just joined because I want to research a boat called Chitral. 

We have inherited several wood and green leather arm chairs which seem to have come from a boat called Chitral. Some still have chains underneath them, to attach them to a deck.

We thought this might have been a private yacht, probably based on the Clyde, but we may be wrong.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to their provenance?


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## clevewyn (May 16, 2010)

Perhaps?

http://www.clydesite.co.uk/clydebuilt/viewship.asp?id=3579


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## cmcd (Oct 19, 2011)

Sorry, but I can't seem to be able to access the link. Any advice?


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## borderreiver (Oct 11, 2008)

It is a SHIP


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## clevewyn (May 16, 2010)

It works OK for me but here is the text.

*ss CHITRAL**built by Alexander Stephen & Sons Glasgow*,
* Yard No 504* 
* Engines by Shipbuilders**Port of Registry:* Glasgow
*Propulsion:* Two four cylinder quadruple expansion steam engines, 13000 ihp, twin screws, 16 knots
*Launched:* Tuesday, 27/01/1925
*Built:* 1925
*Ship Type:* Passenger Liner
*Ship's Role:* UK/Australia service
*Tonnage:* 15248 gross; 8756 net; 10300 dwt
*Length:* 547ft 0in
*Breadth:* 70ft 4in
*Draught:* 30ft 3in
*Owner History:*
Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company London
*Status:* Sold for Scrapping - 15/04/1953
*Web site:* http://www.simplonpc.co.uk/PandOCards.html
*Remarks:* 
10/1923: Ordered. 
27/01/1925: Launched by the Hon. Elsie Mackay, daughter of P&O Chairman Lord Inchcape. 
12/06/1925: Ran trials and delivered to The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, London. As built she could carry 203 First Class and 103 Second Class passengers. CHITRAL and her sisters CATHAY and COMORIN were designed for the Australian run, and their delivery enabled P&O to restore the fortnightly Australian mail schedule, but they were also used on other routes and lacked the reserves of speed really required by a mail steamer. 
03/07/1925: Left London on her maiden voyage to Australia via Marseilles, Suez, Aden, and Colombo. 
1930: Fitted with Bauer~Wach low~pressure exhaust turbines and Wyndham heaters to augment her speed and improve fuel efficiency. 
1933: Carried the (dismantled) gunboat HMS SANDPIPER from Southampton to Shanghai for service on the Yangtse. 
1935: Transferred full~time to UK/Far East service. 
30/08/1939: Requisitioned by the Admiralty for service as an armed merchant cruiser and converted by her builders. Her after funnel was removed and seven 6~inch and two 3~inch guns were fitted. 
14/10/1939: Working up at Scapa Flow when HMS ROYAL OAK was torpedoed. 
20/11/1939: While serving on the Northern Patrol received news from the captured German merchantman BERTHA FISSER of the approach of the battlecruisers SCHARNHORST and GNEISENAU. 
23/11/1939: Rescued 10 survivors from P&O’s RAWALPINDI, also serving as an armed merchant cruiser, sunk by SCHARNHORST and GNEISENAU. 
09/1940: Made three trooping voyages to Reykjavik as part of the reinforcement of the garrison in Iceland. 
11/11/1940: Sent to search for survivors of the armed merchant cruiser JERVIS BAY sunk by the German warship ADMIRAL SCHEER. 
09/1941: Transferred to the East Indies Fleet and remained in the Indian Ocean until the end of 1943. 
10/04/1944: Redelivered from Admiralty. Converted to a troopship by the Maryland Dry Dock Company, Baltimore, USA, during which her second funnel was replaced. 
14/09/1944: Left Baltimore for voyage New York/Clyde with US troops. 
17/09/1947: Returned to her owners and reconditioned in London by R & H Green and Silley Weir Ltd. She returned to her pre~war black hull and funnels, not adopting P&O’s newer white livery. Her mainmast was removed and her forward well was plated in. 
30/12/1948: Re~entered the Australian trade carrying 740 emigrants on outward journeys in extremely spartan conditions. 
1950: Assisted with the repatriation of Dutch nationals from Indonesia. 
02/1953: Last sailing for Australia beset by mechanical problems including enforced conversion from quadruple to triple expansion in 36 hours. 
22/03/1953: Arrived in London for the last time. 
02/04/1953: Sold for £167,500 to British Iron and Steel Corporation (Salvage) Ltd. Handed over for demolition to W H Arnott Young & Co Ltd, Dalmuir. 

And a photo
http://www.photoship.co.uk/JAlbum Ships/Old Ships C/slides/Chitral-14.html


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## Bob S (Jul 12, 2004)

A photo I took of her back in 1969

http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=233098

Regards

Bob


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## Ron Stringer (Mar 15, 2005)

There was a later "Chitral" (1956)

http://www.seadogs-reunited.com/Chitral.htm

http://www.shipsnostalgia.com/showthread.php?t=1800


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## 40907 (Sep 26, 2009)

There must have been more than one Chitral.

BTW That link is working.


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## borderreiver (Oct 11, 2008)

My uncle was OM on the 2 nd Chitral good ship nice cakes


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## cmcd (Oct 19, 2011)

Thank you so much, everyone for all the information - and photos.
It's very interesting. You've been a great help.


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## michael56 (Jun 18, 2009)

*Chitral in Auckland*

Greetings

I went aboard this vessel a couple of times in Auckland probably 1975or 76, both for my work (quarantine) and to wave goodbye to an elderly second cousin who was taking a cruise to Japan, Hong Kong and some other Asian ports. 

At those times you could board (on most occasions) with the passenger as a visitor and see their cabin and have a look around the ship and envy the lucky traveller. 

She was going to the breakers at the completion of my cousin's cruise and I don't think she came all the way back to New Zealand. The cruise may have terminated overseas (prob Sydney) with cousin flying home the last leg. 

She looked a bit tired then but you could tell that in her prime she would have been quite something. 

I hope you enjoy your well travelled chairs.

michael56
NZ


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## cmcd (Oct 19, 2011)

Thank you, Michael. We're currently getting some of them re-furbished, but the travels they have seen make them all the more interesting.


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## vectiscol (Oct 14, 2006)

I was involved in preparing new conditions for Chitral's stability book when P&O sent her cruising in the Mediterranean in the late 1960's. With only passengers but no cargo onboard, it was difficult to avoid excessive trim by the stern.


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## NoMoss (Mar 14, 2007)

I came back from Singapore in 1967 as a passenger on the 'sister' ship the _Cathay_. I had my wife and two little daughters with me and it was a very comfortable and nice sized ship. We were running low on water because of a strike in Aden prevented us stopping there when the 6-day war broke out and we had to divert round the Cape. We were delighted. My wife and myself had both sailed on Union Castle ships and it gave us a chance to see Durban and Capetown again and meet up with some old friends. We had to go to OK Bazaars to buy warm pyjamas for the girls, I remember. Is OK Bazaars still trading?
I believe both ships had belonged to a Belgium company and been on the Belgium Congo run before that country became independant and P&O took them over.


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