It was this time of year that Allen & Peter took the 10 day journey from Mombasa arriving in Bombay on February 15, 1962. They sailed on the SS Amra, a ship built for BI (British India Steam Navigation Company LTD, London), originally as a Burma mailship, but post-war was commissioned to Bombay/East Africa routes. In I Celebrate Myself, Bill Morgan describes the ship as ‘full of six hundred vomiting Indian families fleeing east Africa because of the country’s (Kenya’s) upcoming independence.” Though Allen and Peter were in the crowded hold, the ticket was only $50, and they were near the hatch that afforded them some fresh air.
Check here for more info than you ever thought you’d need to know about the British-India Shipping Line and the SS Amra.
My uncle Kevin Bourne was a radio officer on board the Amra, used to travel to Bombay frequently. Very interested to see this post.
I was born in 1956 on ship s.s.Amra. traveling from Mombasa to Bombay. I would be very interested if anyone knows about it. Hope to hear from someone. Thanks
Bhupendra, my name is Gavin Barrett and my dad was Ship’s Purser on the Amra. He is still alive and about to celebrate his 90th birthday. Connect with me on Facebook and I will try to help.
To the article writer (as a fellow poet) and a traveller on BI ships, I have never seen passengers in the hold. “Lower deck” passengers may have slept around the hold, and “upper deck” passengers slept on the wooden decked midship. I wonder if the Amra made room in its hold for its humanitarian cargo — though I suspect they were fleeing Amin’s Uganda and not Kenya. Most of my own extended family (I am Indian) stayed on in Kenya and Tanzania well past Independence as they did not suffer quite the same level of persecution there as they did in Uganda.
Re: SS Amra. British Indian Steam Navigation Co. Ltd.
Hi My name is Geoff Pinkney, my dad Paul Pinkney was promoted & appointed to third engineering officer aboard the Amra on 13.11.1953. He was 25 years of age then.
I have just discovered an old photo album, pictures & papers showing his life aboard and on leave in various ports.
My dad passed away twenty years ago.
I have been on ss amra and ss bombay did the voyage 3 times Mombasa to india
We were on holidays not running from anyone last trip 1964
Most happiest days of my life
11days on ss bombay and 7days on ss amra
Childhood memories on SS Amra from Mombasa to Bombay in the upper decks, last trip 1964.
My name was Raxa Vaid. I traveled on the SS Amra as a 3 year old in 1962/63 from Mombasa to Bombay and I remember 3 things. 1. Yes, very sick people in the “3rd class” section; 2. Smell of daal and 3. My first view of “white” people as we stopped off at the Seychelles- white legs up to knees given my then height, I couldn’t see the faces.
Interesting perspective.