History

The building programme of the 1920’s culminated in P&O’s crowning achievement of the decade, the stately and traditionally styled Viceroy of India whose engines were a radical departure from contemporary practice.

Design and Construction (1927 – 1929):

Originally ordered in April 1927 under the name Taj Mahal, an equally fitting identity, she went a long way towards elevating the quality of service on the India route to the standard now well established on the Australian service. In the Viceroy of India, P&O took a bold and unprecedented step of adopting turbo-electric machinery, making her only the third passenger ship in the world to have such an installation. She was a “one-off” vessel designed for the Bombay service but also became popular as a “cruising yacht.” She was also the first European-owned turbo-electric vessel, and her success prompted similar installations in P&O’s first two “Strath’s”. All cabins were single berths with interconnecting doors, with extra rooms for “ayahs” accompanying families, and much of her interior decoration had been designed by the Hon. Elsie Mackay, youngest daughter of Lord Inchcape, the P&O Chairman.

The Viceroy of India was launched on the 15^th September 1928 at the shipyard of Alexander Stephen & Sons in Glasgow by Lady Irwin, wife of the Viceroy of India. It had been proposed to name her Taj Mahal, but this was changed because of the possibility of confusing letters etc with those sent to the Bombay hotel of the same name, and to avoid offence to a section of the Indian population. On the 8^th January 1929 while fitting out at Shieldhall Wharf, she was damaged amidships by the steamer Corinaldo inward bound from Canada in thick fog. On the 17^th February 1929 she departed on her sea trials and averaged 19.6 knots.

Her Heyday (1929 – 1940):

In March 1929 she was delivered to P&O and sailed on her maiden voyage on the Bombay direct service on the 7^th March 1929. She began a career as a popular cruise ship immediately after her maiden voyage, when she made a series of cruises in European waters, and cruised in most years before the Second World War.

On the 23^rd November 1929 the Viceroy of India rescued the 25 crew of the Italian steamer Maria Luisa, sinking in the eastern Mediterranean. In February 1930 while berthed in Bombay, she was hit by the BI steamer Warfield, and though little damaged herself, demolished a crane on the quayside. While in September 1930 she stood by the Greek ship Theodoros Bulgaris while her crew were rescued by another vessel after her cargo shifted in the Bay of Biscay. Finally on the 31^st December 1930 she rescued the crew of Theodoros Bulgararis (the same ship), again in the Bay of Biscay, before she sank.

Compared with other passenger ships in the P&O fleet at that time, the Viceroy of India was a fast ship, having a service speed of 19 knots. In September 1932 she broke the London/Bombay record with a time of 16 days 1 hour 42 minutes.

The accommodation aboard the Viceroy of India was truly astounding for a ship of her size, the staterooms in first class being especially noteworthy. For the first time all first class passengers had cabins to themselves. But the quality of her appointments was not restricted to the higher grade passengers alone. P&O had endeavoured and succeeded in designing the interiors of this ground breaking vessel so that comparable advances were made in the level of comfort enjoyed by all classes in the cabins and facilities throughout the ship. The Viceroy of India was truly a most remarkable ship.

By the 1920s, cruising was not as significant an element of P&O’s passenger ship operations as it was for the Orient Line. It was not really until after the postwar rebuilding programme had been completed, allowing the full restoration of all P&O’s scheduled services to India, the Far East and Australia, that any capacity became available to undertake excursion and cruise work to any extent. With the Viceroy of India, a more planned programme of cruises was launched as a regular feature of her annual operations rather than as a casual, infrequent affair. The beautifully appointed Viceroy of India could offer the quality and range of facilities that readily lent themselves to holidays at sea (she had a permanent swimming pool for example) and she was both a popular and great success as a cruise liner.

In her first season, immediately following her maiden voyage on the Indian mail route, she made five Mediterranean cruises between May and August 1929. After that throughout the 1930s she continued to offer a selection of cruise itineraries based at Southampton.

On the 5^th September 1935 the Viceroy of India rescued 241 passengers from the White Star liner Doric following her collision with French steamer Formigny off Cape Finisterre. On the 10^th April 1937 she had a slight mishap when she ran aground in the Suez Canal during high winds and rain squalls, and after being freed by the Suez Canal Company tug Hercule, ran aground again, damaging her rudder. After underwater inspection, she discharged all her passengers at Marseilles and was dry-docked for repairs at Malta. On the 11^th February 1939 she made the first P&O call at Tristan da Cunha, while on a cruise in the South Atlantic, bringing back a report on the islander’s health and wellbeing. The passengers presented the islanders with a sewing machine, a gramophone and a case of tea. Although no P&O ship had called at the island before, the Headman was apparently wearing P&O uniform buttons on his jacket! On the 11^th August 1940 the Viceroy of India rescued 279 passengers from the Cunard White Star liner Ceramic following her collision with the cargo liner Testbank off Cape Town.

The Second World War and Finale (1940 – 1942):

On the 12^th November 1940 the Viceroy of India was requisitioned for service as a troopship and converted on the Clyde. On the 10^th November 1942 she sailed from Algiers with 432 crew and 22 passengers after landing troops and vehicles for the North African campaign during Operation Torch. Unfortunately on the 11^th November 1942 she encountered the German submarine U.407 on the surface recharging her batteries 50 kilometres (34 miles) off Oran. Viceroy of India (Captain S H French) was torpedoed and sank at 0807 hrs in position 36.26N, 00.25W. Two officers and two firemen were lost, the survivors being picked up by the destroyer HMS Boadicea.