KAISAR-I-HIND (1878)

Service dates: 1878-1897

Official number: 76182

Shipping lines: P&O STEAM NAVIGATION COMPANY

Ship type:

• Passenger Ship

Passenger Liner.

Career

06.03.1877

Ordered.

04.05.1878

Launched by Mrs Henry Bayley, wife of P&O's joint Managing Director.

24.07.1878

Registered.

30.07.1878

Ran trials.

17.08.1878

Handed over as Kaisar-i-Hind for The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company after her original prefabricated screw had been replaced with a solid one. She was the first P&O ship fitted with refrigerating machinery, and cost £117,293. Her name, apparently meaning ‘Empress of India’, was given to mark Queen Victoria’s adoption of that title in 1877.

22.09.1878

Maiden sailing London/Bombay. She was nicknamed the ‘Bridge to India’ by virtue of her comfort, distinctive outline and popularity.

11.1879

Ran aground in the Suez Canal.

1880/1887

Occasional voyages extended to Australia in the Spring and Autumn peak periods.

23.05.1884

Re-measured. 4,008 grt, 2,386 nrt. 141 first class and 50 second class passenger capacity.

07.06.1886

Rammed by the British India Associated Steamer Dorunda at Suez. Had to discharge some cargo for repairs to be carried out.

02.11.1886

Collided with barque Stillwater in the Strait of Gibraltar. Kaisar-i-Hind was little damaged, but Stillwater lost some yards and her figurehead, and was towed into Gibraltar by the P&O ship.

1888

Funnel lengthened in an inconclusive attempt to produce a better draught and more speed.

14.10.1892

Embarked Lord Hawke’s cricket team for India.

1893

Chartered for Indian trooping.

14.10.1897

Lost all her boats and suffered deck damage in a typhoon while en route from Singapore to Hong Kong, where she arrived 36 hours late. Mails forwarded to Shanghai in Manila.

11.1897

Sold for £7,000 to Hajee Cassum Joosub, Bombay.

01.1898

Broken up at Bombay.

Ship technical details (PDF)