SS EASTERN voyage report - voyage 12

Date1951

Object numberANMS1340[018]

NameVoyage report

MediumPaper

DimensionsOverall: 336 x 222 mm

ClassificationsEphemera

Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from the family of Burnham Walker Dun

Terms

DescriptionBundle of typed voyage reports for voyage 12 for SS EASTERN, written by the B W Dun as Commander to Messrs Macdonald, Hamilton and co, Managing Agents for The Eastern & Australian Steamship Co. Limited. The first report in this bundle lists the ports of call as Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Port Moresby, Lae, Manus, Tarakan, Sandakan, Manila, Hong Kong, Yokkaichi, Yokohama. The report mentions permission was granted to Captain Dun by the NOIC at Manus for the EASTERN to carrying addition passengers, limit appears to 18 at this time the EASTERN was carrying 20. The second page report is a follow up to the initial voyage report and covers Yokohama, Kobe, Hong Kong, Manila, Sandakan bar, Bohihan Island, Tarakan, Auckland, Dunedin, Wellington and Melbourne. The document reports that the crew worked harmoniously. A single page addition to voyage report 12 mentions the Captain Dun was relieved of Command of EASTERN for leave by Captain J L Plant on 6th March. Due to illness in Plant's family Captain Dun was recalled from leave and took Command of the EASTERN again on 11th March. The bundle also includes two documents that compare the ports with the average daily consumption, average revolutions, propeller slip, average speed and the weather for travel between each port. HistoryBurnham Walker Dun 1905-1992 began his apprenticeship with the Australasian Steam Navigation Company in 1921 when he was just short of his 16th birthday. After four years in the coastal ships of AUSN he gained his Second Mate's certificate in Sydney and joined the Eastern & Australian Steamship Company (E&A) as Fourth Officer on the TANDA. He served 43 years with this Company sailing to ports between Australia and eastern Asia, retiring in 1967. He gained his Master's Certificate in 1929, at the age of 24. In 1942, when he was Chief Officer on the NANKIN, the ship was captured by the German raider THOR. He spent the rest of the war with the surviving crew labouring in Japanese POW camps. He returned to Australia in poor health and spent years trying to get compensation. Although he was an Australian resident employed by an Australian company (managing agents Macdonald Hamilton) the ship was British owned and registered, and he obtained only limited compensation. He went back to sea with E&A in 1946, had his first permanent command in 1947 on the second NANKIN, and served in the company's ships EASTERN, NELLORE, ARAFURA and ARAMAC until he retired. During this time he carried cargo regularly to Japan, where he established friendly relationships with his former captors. During his career he made a number of rescues at sea and survived several severe typhoons. On retirement, he became a Nautical Assessor and took part in marine Courts of Enquiry, including the enquiry into the collapse of the Tasman Bridge, caused by the cargo ship LAKE ILLAWARRA striking one of the bridge's piers. E & A Line actually consisted of four successive companies bearing the same name, Eastern and Australian Steam Ship Company, between 1873 and the early 1980s. It was established to serve routes between Australasia and 'Far Eastern' ports - Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan, and was originally named Eastern & Australian Mail Steam Company Limited. It only ever had a small fleet of ships but those it had, such as the NELLORE and the NANKIN, were well known. Ownership of E&A Line was involved in other companies in the 20th century, notably the AUSN Company, and from 1946 P&O. Through its history E & A Lines carried cargo and passengers, and was involved in trooping and supply in World War I. In World War II its entire fleet of three of its ships was lost. In the post-war period it operated cargo-passenger ships until 1975 when passenger service was given up and the ships were progressively sold, though in 1983 it continued to staff and operate AJCL containerships. The Eastern & Australian Steamship CompanySignificanceW Olson, 'Lion of the China Sea: a History of the E & A Line', 1976.

G A Hardwick, 'E & A Line - the Eastern and Australian Steam Ship Company Limited', The Log, volume 16, number 1, issue 71, February 1983, pp 3 - 12.

Notes provided by Ian Farquhar-Smith, on file