Miscellaneous Ship Histories

Largs Bay

 

Largs Bay was launched in 1921, as a mixed passenger/cargo ship. During WW2 she took part in a large number of convoys. She survived the war and was scrapped in 1957 so had a service life of 36 years. Her sister ships were Jervis Bay, Moreton Bay, Esperance Bay and Hobsons Bay. There is further information about voyages on this ship on the Recollections section of the Benjidog website HERE.

 

Service Pre WW2

 

Largs Bay was built for the London to Australia route and her maiden voyage was on 4 January 1922  from London to Australia via Suez. Destinations were Fremantle, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane,

 

Involvement in dispute between Seaman’s Union & the Australian Government

 

Shortly after her maiden voyage, Largs Bay became entangled in a bitter dispute between the Australian Seaman’s Union and the Australian Government.

 

March 1922

 

The London Time newspaper - Ext Ref. 23 - carried the following article on 9 March 1922:

 

Australian Ships Threatened - Sydney Union Obdurate

(From our own correspondent Melbourne March 8)

 

The humiliations to which the Federal Government has been subjected by the Seamen’s Union in Sydney over the Commonwealth-owned liners Moreton Bay and Largs Bay are causing it seriously to consider whether it can continue the business of shipbuilding

 

The British-shipped crew of the Moreton Bay had to be sent back as passengers and an Australian crew substituted, and similar tactics have been adopted with regard to the Largs Bay. Not only was a new crew shipped, but no freedom of choice was allowed in their selection.

 

The captain refused to accept one man as boatswain, although he was taken on as an able seaman next day, which was the day of sailing from Sydney. The management of the line were informed that if men nominated by the union were not accepted, no crew would be available. The chief steward having objected to some men who offered their service as stewards, the union declared that if the chief steward were retained no stewards would sign on: consequently the chief steward was relieved of his duties and taken as a passenger, Eight junior engineers were treated similarly and replaced by other engineers nominated by the institute.

 

“These men,” said the Prime Minister, in giving the report of his officers, “are creating a situation which makes it absolutely impossible to carry on. The Government will have to consider its policy in regard to shipbuilding; there is only one course open. These liners are equipped with special life-saving apparatus which it requires expert knowledge to manipulate. The engineers were practically placed in the ship by the builders; most of them had been employed on building the ship. The union has taken them out and compelled the acceptance of men who know nothing of the engines; this affects not only the safety of the ship but its speed. This is how the union acts towards a great enterprise in which £10,000,000 of public money is invested.”

 

Mr. Hughes claims that the Government is forced to yield owing to the valuable cargo and its obligations to passengers. The departure of the Largs Bay was delayed for many hours while the dispute continued. When from an adjoining wharf a British-owned passenger steamer left her berth exactly at the time fixed for the Largs Bay the passengers who were standing about in the rain cheered enthusiastically.

 

June 1922

 

The situation is no better in June when the same newspaper - Ext Ref. 24 has the following on 29 June 1922:

 

No Crew for Largs Bay

(From our own correspondent - Melbourne June 28)

 

The efforts of the management of the Commonwealth Shipping Line to obtain a trade union crew for the Largs Bay have failed and the other sections of the steamer’s complement are being paid off.

 

My. Hughes, the Prime Minister, is satisfied that something like a reign of terror exists, whereby men willing to offer their services are being deterred by threats of violence or “blacklisting.” Unless the management can exercise absolute freedom of choice among the members of the men’s union, the Government will immediately pay off and lay up, not only the Largs Bay, but all the Government ships, The union, Mr. Hughes considers, is attempting to establish a system of Sovietism which the Government cannot tolerate.

 

* Most of the complement of the liner Largs Bay had been secured in Sydney for the return voyage to London via Brisbane, when the Seaman’s union took exception to the boatswain who the officers had engaged and the steamer was held up. Our correspondent at Melbourne, telegraphing on Sunday, stated that each of the Commonwealth Government liners involved the Government win heavy expense over industrial complications.

 

July 1922

 

By the beginning of July the dispute had still not been resolved.

Participation in WW2

 

At the outbreak of WW2 she was in transit from Australia to Britain with passengers and cargo. She unloaded her cargo at Malta and made it safely back to Britain with her passengers. She continued to be used for commercial purposes until being requisitioned as a troopship in August 1941.

 

Largs Bay took part in 38 convoys according to information shown in the table below which is provided courtesy of Convoyweb - see  Ext. Ref. #5. Convoyweb also lists a large number of independent voyages undertaken by this ship.

 

She was deployed as a troopship in August 1941 and transported troops from Singapore amongst other places. There are accounts of some of these convoys on this site HERE from Stan Mayes.

 

Image 1

Basic Data: Largs Bay

Type: Passenger/Cargo Ship

Registered owners, managers and operators:

Commonwealth Government Line of Steamers, Adelaide

Builders: Beardmore

Yard: Dalmuir

Country: UK

Yard number: 616

Registry: London

Official number: 137225

Signal letters: N/K

Call sign: GSMR

Classification society: N/K

Gross tonnage: 13,851 tons

Net tonnage: N/K

Deadweight: N/K

Length: 161.8 Metres

Breadth: 20.8 Metres

Depth: N/K

Draught: 10 Metres

Engines: Steam turbine

Engine builders: D. R. G. Parsons steam turbines

Works: N/K

Country: UK

Power: 9000 SHP

Propulsion: Twin screw

Speed: 16 knots

Cargo capacity: N/K

Passenger capacity:

As built: 12 First class and 712 Third class

After 1931 refit: 550 Tourist class

After 1948 refit: 290 Tourist class

Crew: 215

Images

 

1. Images #1 and #3 on this page were provided by Stan Mayes

2. Image #2 is from Ext Ref. #15

3. Image #4 is from John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland Neg: 158560 and stated to be “copyright free”.

Image 1 shows Largs Bay from the port side.

Image 3 is view of Largs Bay from the starboard side.

Image 3

Largs Bay is reported to have struck a mine on 2 January 1944 on entering Naples harbour but there is no information recorded about this against convoy NV16.

Service post WW2

 

Repatriation of Servicemen

 

At the end of the war, Largs Bay was used to repatriate those who had fought in the war.

 

The distinguished involvement of the Australian 2/26th Brigade in Singapore is described at the Australian War Memorial at Ext Ref. 19. The survivors of the brigade had been taken prisoner by the Japanese when Singapore had to surrender on 15 February 1942; they were in captivity for three and a half years.

 

“The main body of the 2/26th – 470 men – returned to Australia aboard the ship Largs Bay, berthing at Pinkenba Wharf in Brisbane on 8 August 1945.”

 

Largs Bay is mentioned in an article about Captain Frank Cahill in Ext. Ref. 18.

 

Captain Cahill was a Medical Officer in the Australian 2/9 Field Ambulance. He was taken prisoner by the Japanese in 1942. Over the next three years he cared for the POWs in appalling circumstances and was:

 

“liberated from Changi camp on the 14th September 1945 and repatriated to Australia on the troop ship Largs Bay”.

 

 

Australia and Emigrants

 

Largs Bay carried many emigrants seeking a new life in Australia.

 

Largs Bay is mentioned in “Ten pound Poms” Ext.Ref 17 which refers to a fire on board in 1949:

 

Arab politics and society were misunderstood and ridiculed by British migrants but the Arab world could also be deeply threatening. Ports were closed because of the “troubles”l; soldiers with machine guns patrolled the docks; Arabs threw stones and made rude gestures as the migrants visited their ports or  sailed through the Suez Canal. Mostly the meetings were brief and the migrants could escape to the security of the ship, but just occasionally the threat felt very real. In 1949 Bunty Davis was sailing with her family on the Largs Bay when it caught fire in the Suez Canal. The passengers were put ashore in Aden for three and a half weeks and housed in an army barracks where women and men were in separate quarters: “it was quite dangerous because it was - the Arabs used to try and invade the women’s quarters so they eventually had to separate us into families”

 

This paints a very unpleasant picture of Arab-European relations at this time, which is of course not long after the partitioning of Palestine. It demonstrates that Largs Bay was transporting migrants to Australia at this time.

 

There is another reference to this fire at Ext Ref. 21, which says:

 

My mother and father meet each other when they came from England to Australia in 1949 on the Largs Bay. The ship left England in August of 1949 after delays. The ship caught fire near Suez and the passengers were off loaded in Aden for some weeks. To put the fire out the ship was flooded and sunk. They then refloated it and after repairs continued to Australia in Oct 1949.

 

 

Helen Sowada described her experiences as a migrant in 1956 on the NSW Migration Heritage Centre website Ext. Ref. 20. Helen travelled to Australia towards the end of the life of Largs Bay and makes the following observations:

 

When I saw the ship I nearly had a heart attack. I was expecting a big fancy liner, like the Queen Mary, and it was this dreadful looking tub of a ship and it wasn’t very big. I thought, “I don’t believe I’m going all that way in that”. The ship really looked as though it had seen better days, and it had because it was scrapped the year later. The Largs Bay was built in the ’20s.

 

We left from Tilbury in London on 14 August 1956. Initially it was going to be Portsmouth - we were supposed to go through the Suez Canal but because of the [Suez Crisis] they had to change. We went round South Africa instead and it took twice as long. The ship was a freighter carrying 300 passengers and a cargo of motor cars and so our port stops were long. We stayed three days [each] in Cape Town, Durban and Fremantle. We stayed about the same amount of time in the Canary Islands, picking up cargo.

 

I got on quite well with the crew and they were all good fun. We had a library, we had a lounge. Most were young people on this ship. I got on quite well with the crew and they were all good fun. We were very lucky on that voyage because we had several well-known Australian actors on board and sitting at my table were Slim DeGray and Frank Wilson.

 

It took six weeks to get here, it was 26 September in Melbourne, 1956. John McNabb met the ship and took me to a church hostel for country girls. I made quite a few friends there and wasn’t alone. They had their dining room, their own cooks, so I didn’t have to worry about food.

 

There is another reference to a fire in 1957 at Ext Ref.21, where another correspondent named Bob said:

 

I was on the last voyage of the Largs Bay to Australia in 1957. We came around the Cape of Good Hope because the Suez was blocked after Prime Minister Eden ordered the bombing of shipping there.

There was a reported fire in the Indian Ocean but it turned out to be lit by some of the passengers in a porthole well - they were cooking sausages. The bosun saw flames shooring through an open porthole and, because the ship was otherwise in darkness, it appeared to him like a very big fire. It was doused with half a can of beer! The ship was then running on a back-up generator, the main system having been put out of action when hit by a storm.

There was a near riot on the wharf when we reached Fremantle, the passangers and crew, threatening a sort of mutiny. (No great threat really.) The engine failed again in The Bight and the skipper rigged a sail during that night. Someone has a picture of the ship with a sail rigged! I'd love to see it.

Still unable to steer, we nearly ran into Kangaroo Island and eventually made it to Adelaide. We never reached our destination - Sydney. I seem to recall one of the passengers threatening to sue the shipping company because he was deprived of his 10 year wish to sail under the Harbour Bridge on returning home.

 

 

Largs Bay was destined to provide a service from Southampton to Australia until her last commercial trip in April 1957 after which she made her last trip to Barrow where she was broken up.

Image 2 is a copy of an article from the Sydney Morning Herald 30 June 1922  - Ext.Ref 16. Note that the Unions are now describing this as a case of “victimisation”..

Image 4 shows Largs Bay docked - presumably in Australia judging by the source. Date is not known.

In the last days before she was scrapped, Largs Bay was used as a set for some of the scenes in the 1958 film about the Titanic called “A night to remember” according to Ext. Ref. 22. Most of the exterior sets used Austurius, but Largs Bay is believed to have been used for interior shots. Given the descriptions above she was clearly not used for any of the scenes involving First Class accommodation.

On July 5 1922, the London Times newspaper - Ext Ref. 25 carried this story:

 

Largs Bay to have a crew

(From our own correspondent)

 

The Seamen’s Union at Sydney has withdrawn the boatswain who was the primary cause of the dispute over the Commonwealth liner Largs Bay, and has offered to supply a crew. Mr. Hughes expresses his pleasure that the Union is showing signs of returning sense, but says that it is not enough to have retreated from its untenable position; the Commonwealth Line must have a definite understanding that its vessels will in future be manned by members of the Union without friction or delay.

 

· The dispute over Largs Bay arise because the Seaman’s Union objected to the boatswain who had been engaged as a member or the crew for the voyage from Sydney to London and insisted that another man, whom it nominated, should be engaged. When the management of the line refused to submit to this dictation the Union made it impossible to sign on a crew. The Government strongly supported the management in its stand against what Mr. Hughes described as an attempt to establish a system of Sovietism.

 

The newspaper archives seem to lose interest at this point so it is to be presumed that this was the end of the dispute.

 

New route announced

 

The Times - Ext. Ref 26 - carried an announcement on 29 January 1929 to inform readers that the “Bay” ships will be departing for Australia from Southampton with 14 sailings to Brisbane during the year calling at Malta, Port Said, Columbo, Freemantle, Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney.

Image 2

Image 4