Ganges was the first of three Nourse Line ships named for the Ganges river in northern India.
SS Sangola was a steam cargo liner that was launched in Scotland in 1901, renamed Goshu Maru in 1923, and scrapped in Japan in 1933. She was one of a class of seven steamships that were built for the British India Steam Navigation Company (BI) in 1901 and 1902. From 1908 until 1910 she took Indian indentured labourers to Fiji.
Bruce was a 1,200-ton sailing ship built in 1866 by Aitken Mansell of Glasgow, Scotland. In 1880 the Nourse Line purchased her from the British Shipowners Company.
Hereford was a 1456-ton iron sailing ship with two decks and one cemented bulkhead which was built in 1869 by J. Elder & Company at Glasgow for the Merchant Shipping Company of London. She was chartered by the New Zealand Shipping Company in the 1870s and made three voyages to Lyttelton, New Zealand with approximately three hundred emigrants each time. The first voyage in 1874 took 87 days, and the second took 80 days, arriving in Lyttelton on 19 January 1878. In 1881, she was stranded on Ingleby Reef near Port Phillip Heads, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, and towed off on 12 March 1881 by a tug.
Allanshaw was a 1,589 ton, iron sailing ship with a length of 80.1 metres (263 ft), beam of 12.3 metres (40 ft) and draught of 7.0 metres (23.0 ft). She was built by William Simons & Company of Renfrew for the J.G. Potter & Company of Liverpool and launched on 29 August 1874. She was bought by the Nourse Line on 26 November 1880. She was a fast ship, making the run from London to Sydney in 65 days. On 2 October 1882 she arrived in Australia with new immigrants.
The Arno, was a 1,825 ton, iron sailing ship with a length of 270.7 feet (82.5 m), breadth of 39 feet (12 m) and depth of 22.5 feet (6.9 m). She was built by Charles Connell & Company, Glasgow, Scotland, for the Nourse Line, named after the Arno River in central Italy, which flows past Florence and Pisa to the Mediterranean Sea, and launched on 19 January 1893. She was primarily used for the transportation of Indian indentured labourers to the colonies. Details of some of these voyages are as follows:
SS Vadala was a cargo steamship that was launched in Scotland in 1890, renamed Kenkon Maru No. 12 in 1913, and sank as the result of a collision in 1928. She was built for the British India Steam Navigation Company (BI). In 1895 she took Indian indentured labourers to Fiji. In 1899 was a troop ship in the Second Boer War. From 1913 she was in Japanese ownership.
SS Virawa was British India Steam Navigation Company (BI) steamship. She was launched in Scotland in 1890 and scrapped in India in 1921. Her trades included taking horses from Australia to India, and indentured labourers from India to Fiji and Trinidad. In 1899 she was a troop ship in the Second Boer War.
SS Fultala was a British India Steam Navigation Company (BI) steamship. She was built in England in 1890, operated mostly in the Indian Ocean, and was scrapped in India in 1923. She was a troop ship in the Second Boer War and the First World War. From 1901 to 1906 she took Indian indentured labourers to Fiji.
Ganges was the second Nourse Line ship to be named Ganges. The first Ganges was built in 1861 and wrecked in 1881. Ganges was a 1,529-ton iron barque, built by Osbourne, Graham & Company of Sunderland and launched on 25 March 1882. She was 241 feet (73 m) long, with a beam of 37.2 feet (11.3 m) and a draught of 22.5 feet (6.9 m).
SS Wardha was a merchant steamship that was built in Scotland in the 1880s and scrapped in Italy in 1923. She was one of a pair of sister ships that were designed to carry cotton, but completed for the British India Steam Navigation Company (BI) to carry sugar. In 1899 she carried troops and cavalry horses for the Second Boer War. In the 1900s she took Indian indentured labourers to British Guiana and Fiji. From 1913 onward she passed through a succession of Italian owners, but kept her original name.
SS Sutlej was a 3,549 ton steamship built for the Nourse Line in about 1907 by Charles Connell & Company Limited, Glasgow. She had single screw, triple expansion, 425 horsepower (317 kW) engines.
SS Indus was a 3,393-ton steamship launched on 28 April 1904. Delivered to the Nourse Line in May 1904, she was the shipping company's first steamship. She was built by Charles Connell & Company Limited, Glasgow and had single screw, triple expansion, 425 nhp engines.
SS Chenab was a steamship that was built in England in 1911 and scrapped in Scotland in 1953. For nearly two decades she was part of Nourse Line, which carried Girmityas from India to colonies in the Caribbean and the Pacific. In 1914 she was requisitioned for service in the First World War.
SS Minnedosa was one of a pair of transatlantic steam ocean liners that were built in the United Kingdom, launched in 1917 and operated by Canadian Pacific until 1935. Her sister ship was Melita.
HMHS Lanfranc was a Booth Line passenger steamship that was built in Scotland in 1907 and operated scheduled services between Liverpool and Brazil until 1914. In the First World War she was a hospital ship until a U-boat sank her in the English Channel in 1917.
MV Glenartney was a Glen Line cargo twin-screw motor ship that was launched in Scotland in 1915 as Montezuma, renamed Glenartney when she changed owners, and sunk by a U-boat in 1918.
SS Glenartney was a cargo steamship that was launched in Scotland in 1911 and sunk by a U-boat in the English Channel in 1918.
SS City of Bradford was a British passenger and cargo steamship that was built in Yorkshire in 1903, renamed Donau in 1916, reverted to City of Bradford in 1919 and became Hanne in 1936.
SS Jumna was a steam passenger liner that was built in Scotland in 1929 and sunk with all hands by a German cruiser on Christmas Day 1940. She was a ship in the fleet of James Nourse, Ltd, whose trade included taking indentured labourers from India to the British West Indies.
United Kingdom 
Nourse Line 
Norway 
