SA Shipper/Clan Robertson... a bit late to the party... however...

As built 'Clan Robertson' had British officers and Indian crew... and yes they had a large crew.


With her sister 'Clan Ross' she was built for the Clan Line express service from Liverpool to Durban and carried 12 first class passengers.
After Clan Line took over Union-Castle there was no longer a need for these two ships on this service and that is why she worked her way through Bullard & King and Springbok Lines... both subsiduaries... and Safmarine which was an associated company at the time.
I don't know what the manning was with either Bullard & King or Springbok but when she went to Safmarine the manning remained European officers... a mixed bag of British and South African .. but the Indian crew were replaced with 'Cape Coloured' crew.... men of mixed race from Capetown.
On the other hand her sister ... which started as Clan Ross ... reverted to British officers, Zulu deck and engine room crew and 'Natal Indians' in the catering department when she went back under the British flag as 'Kinnaird Castle'.
Who lived where? Master and C/E on the boat deck, 12 passengers on the saloon deck, all mates and engineers on the upper deck amidships along with the caterers.... and the entire deck and engineroom crew down aft.
How do I know this? I sailed on 'Clan Ross' when she was 'Kinnaird Castle', and 'Clan Robertson' when she was 'S.A. Shipper'.
I also sailed on the next 'Clan Robertson'... she too had Zulu and Natal Indian crew.....

Thanks Graham for your answer!
But I wasn´t asking about crews which stayed onboard during coastal voyage but crew members being onboard as permanent crew.
I remember from my time as apprentice at DW in Hamburg that we worked on UK flagged ships with ratings from India or Pakistan. Something strange for us germans at that time ( mid sixties). 10 years later ratings from socalled 3rd world countries, and later officers as well, from all over the world became quite common.
In the southamerican westcoast trade down from Colombia to Chile we used to take extra crew in Manta/Equador. The so-called Manta Gang. A dozen or so men doing cargo work, cleaning holds, building extra bulkheads in the holds etc. Work imposible to be done by the permanent crew for we went in and out in many a ports along the coast. Lots of rope handling and manoeuver station work.
A vessel the size of the S.A. Shipper under german flag had approx. a crew number of 40-50.
Thanks again and regards
Jürgen

Many ships in the West African trade used to take on local crew for cargo handling which stayed on board while they were on the coast. However, by today's standards, the normal crew would have been huge anyway.

Oh, it went to the wrong picture.
Still, somebody might see it.
Jürgen

Hello,
just checked the other fotos of this vessel. There is one with a stern view which PWR added 2 years ago. What causes my interest are the 2 long rows of portholes. She must have had a huge number of crew/ratings. Anybody has an idea of hw many? Where they europeans/or white africans or did they have coloered crew employed?
Sorry if anybody sees a racist attidude in my query! This is definetely not my intention! Only a profesionel curiosity.
Thanks for posting this impressive foto
Jürgen