Visiting Ships

The African Mercantile's ships' agency side looked after the interests of a number of different lines. The 'Joint Service' included the Clan, Hall and Harrison Lines, while others included the Bank Line, the Scandinavian East Africa Line, and the French national line, Messageries Maritime. I always thought the best-looking ships were the Clan Line ships - picture shows the Clan Shaw.

When we first moved to Mombasa, my father was responsible for AMCo's ships' agency. His job was to look after all a ship's needs - so he went on board immediately a ship came in to see the captain and ask his requirements - but his main job was to oversee the unloading of the ship as quickly as possible and then to fill her 'down to her marks' - that is, so she was down to the Plimsoll line, as fully loaded as she could legally be.

My father's favourite line was the Harrison Line, in which his father had risen to be captain. Richard and I were often asked aboard ship, at least in part because my parents were extremely hospitable to all the captains, many of whom they came to know very well. The visit shown in this picture was particularly special. We are seen here on the SS Defender, our grandfather's old ship.

When we left the ship my father would often be given a bottle of something special which he had to hide as we went through customs. Another small 'thank you' came from some of the Clan Line captains who would give him a box of fresh kippers: my father did like kippers, if not quite as much as a Yarmouth bloater!

Some Harrison Line ships had heavy-lifting derricks and we would go down to Kilindini to watch them offload something unusual - like the huge Garrett locomotives that pulled the trains on East African Railways. Picture shows one of these ships, the Adventurer, from one of the paintings which Harrisons used in their annual calendar. The locos were so heavy that, as they were hoisted out over the wharf, the whole ship listed.

We would also go down to the docks to watch animals being loaded, destined for zoos in Britain. The conditions in which some of the animals were transported....

....would not be acceptable today. The crew had to care for their special cargo and this resulted in some interesting incidents, like when a hippo was being given a bath and escaped, rampaging round the ship. I also have vivid memories of a crate of ostriches being lifted onto a ship when the end of the crate opened and the three birds fell to the ground, killing them all.