 SS Esperance Bay c. 1930 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name |
|
| Namesake | Esperance Bay, Western Australia [1] |
| Owner | Commonwealth Line (Australia); White Star Line; Shaw, Savill & Albion Line |
| Port of registry | Lloyd's Register |
| Builder | William Beardmore and Company of Glasgow [1] |
| Launched | 15 December 1921 [1] |
| Fate | Broken up, Newport, Monmouthshire, from May 1955 [1] |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Twin-screw steamer ocean liner [1] |
| Tonnage | |
| Length | 530 ft 8 in (161.75 m) overall [1] |
| Beam | 68 ft 2 in (20.78 m) [1] |
| Depth of hold | 33 ft (10 m) [1] |
| Propulsion | Two oil-burning steam turbines [1] |
| Speed | 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph) [1] |
SS Esperance Bay, later SS Arawa and HMS Arawa, was a British merchant ocean liner, launched in December 1921, which saw service mostly between England and the Far East and Oceania until broken up in 1955. She was often called TSS, rather than SS, standing for Twin-screw steamer.
The ship was named for Esperance Bay, which had itself been named for the French ship Espérance (1781). [3]
When her sister ship Moreton Bay was launched at the Barrow Shipyard on 21 April 1921, it was reported that Largs Bay and Esperance Bay were under construction by William Beardmore for the Australian government's Commonwealth Line, of Fremantle, Western Australia. [4]
Altogether, there were to be five Bay-class ships, each named after a bay in Australia, and built to an identical design, and they were planned for the launching of a new regular steamship service to Australia. [5] While they were planned as single-class ships, they also had "a limited number of 2-berth first-class State Rooms, each with private bath". [6]
Esperance Bay was launched at Dalmuir on 15 December 1921 and was reported to be designed to carry 700 passengers. [7] On 10 July 1922, after being fitted out, the ship steamed down the River Clyde, ready for her first scheduled voyage to Australia. [8] She was registered in London. [9] On 1 August, she duly set off from Tilbury for Brisbane, carrying the first contingent of women emigrants for Australia under the Overseas Settlement Act Scheme. [10]
In May 1928, the ship and her four sisters, including {{HMS|Jervis Bay|| and Hobsons Bay, were sold to the White Star Line. [1]
In July 1935, as Esperance Bay, the vessel took part as a guest ship in King George V's Silver Jubilee review of the fleet at Spithead. [1]
In 1936, Esperance Bay was bought by the Shaw, Savill & Albion Line, of London, was extensively refitted on the Clyde for the direct route to New Zealand through the Panama Canal, and was renamed SS Arawa. [11] [9] This was reported as "revival of a famous name", which was that of the company's SS Arawa, lost in the First World War. [12] Confusingly, her sister ship Hobsons Bay was then renamed as Esperance Bay. [13]
When the Second World War broke out in September 1939, Arawa was at Wellington in New Zealand. She was quickly requisitioned by the Admiralty and in October was sent to Sydney for conversion to an armed merchant cruiser called HMS Arawa. From there, she was posted to the China station with HMS Liverpool. [1] The ship served in this role until 1941, when she went to Birkenhead and was converted to a troop ship for transporting up to 1,850 men. In 1942, she took forces to Durban, returning home to England by way of Buenos Aires with a cargo of meat. In November 1942, she took part in Operation Torch as a troop ship, landing soldiers in North Africa. In 1943, she was making crossings of the North Atlantic, to bring American forces to Britain for Operation Bolero. After Victory in Europe Day, 8 May 1945, she was sent to the Mediterranean for the repatriation of prisoners of war, and from there was posted onwards to Bombay, with a view to being used in the ongoing Pacific War. [9] [1]
Following the Surrender of Japan on 15 August, towards the end of October 1945 Arawa docked in Shanghai, sent there to repatriate some 600 British subjects to England. [14] Most, including the future actor Peter Wyngarde and the future author J. G. Ballard, had been liberated from the Lunghua Civilian Assembly Centre. [15] Arawa made the voyage to Southampton in November and December, carrying 582 British passengers. [16]
On 7 February 1946, Arawa returned to her pre-war life, steaming to New Zealand by way of Panama. In August 1947, she was put to work to re-open the route between England, Cape Town, and New Zealand. [1] On 4 May 1954, in the Thames Estuary, she collided with a steamer called Borde, and was damaged. The other vessel's bosun was reported to be missing, but he was later found on Arawa, having jumped from one to the other in his underwear at the moment of collision. [17]
Arawa made her last voyage in December 1954. From May 1955, she was broken up for scrap metal at Cashmore's in Newport, Monmouthshire. [1]
