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Australian WWI P&O Branch Service ship dinner menu for the HMAT BORDA
Australian WWI P&O Branch Service ship dinner menu for the HMAT BORDA

Australian WWI P&O Branch Service ship dinner menu for the HMAT BORDA

Date1917
Object number00051366
NameMenu
MediumPaper: card, ink
DimensionsOverall: 191 x 130 mm
ClassificationsEphemera
Credit LineANMM Collection
DescriptionDinner menu for P&O passenger liner BORDA dated 12 October 1917 during the vessel's period as troopship from 1914 until 1920. During peace time BORDA worked the Australian service via the Cape of Good Hope. HistoryOne of five vessels from the new 'B' class of the P&O line, passenger liner BORDA was ordered in 1910 and built by Caird & Co, Greenock at a cost of £208,977. It was launched on 17 December 1913 and delivered in March 1914 for the Australian service via the Cape of Good Hope. Specifications: Official Number: 135340 Tonnage: 11,136 gross, 7,039 gross Length: 500.0 Beam: 62.2 Depth: 37.8 feet Speed: 14 knots Passengers: 350 permanent 3rd class and 750 extra in temporary quarters. On 4 August 1914 BORDA was requisitioned for trooping duties, along with her four sister ships: BALLARAT which was torpedoed and sunk with no loss of life in 1917, BELTANA, BENALLA, and BERRIMA. Approximately half of the 200 seaworthy vessels owned by P&O and British India (which P&O had taken over in October 1914) were requisitioned for government use within months of war being declared. They served as armed cruisers, troopships and supply and munitions transports, and many were damaged and lost during the subsequent four years. At the close of the war BORDA was known to have assisted in the transport and repatriation of German women and children from Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania. In 1920 BORDA resumed the Australian service for P&O. The vessel was laid up in 1928 and sold for £28, 850 to be broken up in Japan in 1930.SignificanceThis dinner menu from the period P&O passenger liner BORDA served as a troopship during World War I details the type of food available to troops en route to war in 1917. It is a good compliment to photographs and passenger tickets for BORDA held in the National Maritime Collection as part of the vessel's history.