The Karanja was one of British India Line’s more long lived ships and was built in 1948 for their Bombay to East Africa and South Africa service. Remarkably this route survived for a considerable length of time only being discontinued in 1976 when the Karanja was retired from service by British India Line and was sold to the Shipping Corporation of India for continued service. She then sailed out of Madras as the Nancowry for several years before finally being retired in 1988!

Design and Construction (1945 – 1948):

After the Second World War, the British India Steam Navigation Company Ltd (British India Line) desperately needed to update its Bombay to East and South Africa Service and to this end it ordered two new ships from the yard of Alexander Stephen & Sons in Glasgow. The ships were to be called Kampala and Karanja. Unfortunately both ships proved difficult to operate.

The cargo spaces were large and inaccessible it often took longer to open and close the hatches than it did to load or unload the cargo, none of this was helped because of poorly sited winches, poor visibility along the side of the ship, poor siting of telephone communications fore and aft with the bridge also made berthing the ship something of a nightmare, nevertheless both were splendid looking ships the first to be built was the Kampala.

The Karanja was launched on the 10^th March 1948 and was delivered to British India Line on the 1^st October 1948. She was named after an island opposite Bombay which protects the city from the south-west monsoon.

British India Line Era (1948 – 1976):

Karanja's career was very similar to that of her sister, the Kampala, and they both spent their time sailing to and fro between Bombay and Dar-es-Salaam via the Seychelles, Mombasa and Zanzibar. One difference was that Karanja continued her route to Beira and Durban and also in August 1969 she was sent to the Keppel Shipyard in Singapore for an extensive refit. The refit included the installation of an air conditioning plant for the Public Rooms and Cabin Accommodation, passenger numbers were further reduced and she emerged from the yard in February 1970. This was to provide her with six more years of service, during this time she was transferred in 1971 to the General Cargo Division, then P&O Line before finally being returned to British India Line ownership in 1975. On the 9^th June 1976 she was laid up at Bombay.

The Shipping Corporation of India Era (1976 – 1988):

On the 6^th August 1976 she was sold to the Shipping Corporation of India, and renamed Nancowry. She was placed on the Madras-Port Blair-Andaman Island service and except for a brief spell in the Gulf in 1977 spent the remainder of her days on this route. In October 1988 she was sold for scrapping to Mansoor Taherbhai of Bombay and worked commenced in December 1988.