The Story of a Shipping Line

Amongst my books there is this large book of over 400 pages which tells the story of the Harrison Line, a company which began by trading across the channel in wines and cognacs but which became a major owner, with ships plying between the UK and West Indian, South American, Indian, and East and South African ports.

This small card explains why I so treasure the book. I can't remember which year my father gave it to me but its purpose, to keep alive the memories of the family connections with the line, has been fulfilled. My grandfather, Ernest, was a captain in Harrisons, surviving through the First World War and later dying soon after being put ashore from his ship, and my father spent many years on the East Coast of Africa as a ships' agent serving the line.

It's a lovely book to spend time with, leafing through the pages as the stories of so many ships are described, each with at least one photograph. Some of the stories are tragic, of ships torpedoed, of others catching fire and burning out, of strandings, and some destroyed in storms. It was a Harrison ship, SS Politician, above, which was wrecked on the rocks of Eriskay with a cargo of whisky and provided the story behind "Whisky Galore!".

While I cannot remember most of the ships which came in to my father's agency while I lived in Mombasa, all were like this one, Administrator, mixed cargo ships carrying raw materials from East Africa - cotton seed, hides and skins, sisal and many others - while bringing out the finished products of British industry such as machinery, cars, and all sorts of consumer goods.

Harrisons took great pride in their designs which, to the eyes of those seeing them in their day, were very elegant. I personally, still think these are beautiful ships, but perhaps that's because my father instilled that appreciation into me. They were also very functional. Tactician was armed with a heavy-lift derrick which was capable of lifting a large locomotive from the deck of the ship onto the wharf.

They were ships of their day so, when mixed cargo designs were replaced by modern bulk carriers and container ships, they were steadily sold off. Dalesman was the last of their mixed cargo ships, delivered to Harrisons in 1961, the year my parents left Mombasa.