Collection of photographs and documents relating to the career of merchant mariner Eric Bolton Beeham
Subject or historical figure
Eric Bolton Beeham
(Australian, born 1917)
Date1948 - 1962
Object numberANMS0839
NameArchive series
MediumPaper
ClassificationsEphemera
Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from Elaine Beeham
DescriptionThis collection of 96 items relates to the career of merchant mariner Eric Bolton Beeham. The series consists of four business cards; two Mutual Life and Citizens' Assurance Co calendars; 22 royal observatory hong kong weather charts; one information folder and one postcard depicting SS CHANGTE and TAIPING; two maps; one log book; one vessel specification; 21 wireless reports and four newspaper clippings regarding typhoons; four membership and identity cards; one crew pass; two letters and one envelope; four navigational notebooks; 16 lists of vessels, crew members and personal particulars of Beeham; one scrapbook, one photograph album and seven photographs depicting images of SS CHANGTE, TAIPING and COMMILES. The items span the period 1948 - 1962.HistoryThe extensive career of Captain Eric Beeham spans the period from 1936 to 1982, during which there was a great deal of change in the Australian commercial and industrial shipping industries. Beeham first went to sea as a cadet with P&O working on RMS MALOJA and RMS STRATHNAVER in 1936. During World War II Beeham worked on troopships and minesweepers and commanded the patrol boat HMAS NEROUS amongst others. After the war he worked for a number of different shipping companies including Australian & Oriental Line, later becoming a pilot for the Maritime Services Board in NSW.