Former First Officer Will Greet Dominion Monarch

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28671, 22 August 1958, Page 9

Former First Officer Will Greet Dominion Monarch

When the Shaw Savill liner Dominion Monarch berths at Lyttelton on September 8, a man who has made 11 round trips in her between England and New Zealand will be on the wharf to meet his old ship.

Now stevedore for the Shaw Savill line at Lyttelton, Mr Arthur D. English was for three years first officer of the Dominion Monarch until he decided to settle ashore in New Zealand—a decision he has had no cause to regret. One of the few men who know the liner from end to end and from keel to the truck, Mr English will renew his acquaintance with her, as he will be in charge of cargo handling while the vessel is in port.

With a gross tonnage of 27,155 tons, and a displacement of 36,000 tons and a deadweight capacity of 17,300 tons, the Dominion Monarch . is among the biggest ships to visit Lyttelton. She was in port soon after the outbreak of World War II and made a second visit when a troqpship. Her loaded draught is 36 feet. The largest mercantile ship to visit Lyttelton was the Caronia, of 34,183 tons, the longest the Athlone Castle (25,654 tons) with a length of 725 feet and the deepest the Ceramic, whicty drew 33 feet 6 inches fore and aft. The largest warship was H.M.S. Renown (800 feet) which was in port during the Prince of Wales’s visit in 1920. Torpedoed off Malta An Englishman, Mr English served his time as an apprentice on the tramp steamers of the Sheaf line of W. A. Souter and Company and was on the China Coast for two years before he passed his master’s examination. He joined the Shaw Savill and Albion Line in January, 1939, soon after the Dominion Monarch was commissioned. He first served in the Theristocles and then the old Wairangi, which was torpedoed by an E-boat at 3 a.m. while in a

Malta convoy, the crew being picked up seven hours later. He was next an officer in the Moreton Bay and then the Waiwera and again the Moreton Bay. When the ship was laid up for refit, he joined the Dominion Monarch.

After making one trip to New Zealand, the Dominion Monarch was laid up in 1948 for refit and Mr English stood by. He had every opportunity of seeing the workmanship which had gone into her in the Wallsend-on-Tyne yard of Swan, Hunter and Wingham, Richardson. Well Fitted “The Dominion Monarch is a beautiful ship—the finest I have ever sailed in,’’ said Mr English. “She was so well fitted out when she was built in 1938 that the only equipment needed to bring her up to standard, navigationally, in 1948, was radar, which was a new invention in any case.”

The hull of «,the Dominion Monarch was fine, said Mr EngJish.'* > The ship was the biggest built on the Tyne since the Mauretania and some claimed that her lines were a copy of the hull of the Mauretania. When doing 10 knots, the Dominion Monarch hardly caused a ripple on the water. When the ship was on her trials after' the 1948 refit, Prince Charles was born and her com-

mander, Sir Henry Gordon, sent a message of congratulation “from the Dominion Monarch to the future Dominion Monarch.’’ The first-accommodation for 500 passengers was magnificent, said Mr English. He had not seen better public rooms on any other ship. /

To instal four opposed-piston diesel engines in an express liner on one of the longest routes in the world was a daring experiment with the Dominion Monarch. It proved totally successful. With a total horsepower of 32,000, the engines pushed the Dominion Monarch along at 21J knots on her trials and, although the greatest care was taken on her maiden voyage not to over-

strain her, she broke record after record and still had plenty of power in hand to do better. From Teneriffe to Capetown, she did 19.55 knots, from Durban to Fremantle 19.84 knots, from Fremantle to Melbourne 20.04 knots and from Durban to Cape Town on the homeward run 20.22 knots. On coming ashore in 1951, Mr English was stevedore at Wellington for the Shaw, Savill line for two years and at Auckland for* another two years before being appointed to his present position at Lyttelton. “One appreciates shore life if one has been to sea probably more than one who has never been to sea,” said Mr English. His interests are his home and family and his garden at Opawa.