SAN FRANCISCO SERVICE

Taranaki Daily News, 27 August 1930, Page 7

SAN FRANCISCO SERVICE

VESSEL TO REPLACE TAHITL

LUXURIOUS ACCOMMODATION’. The P. and O. liner Razmak, which has been purchased by the Union Steam Ship Company to replace the Tahiti in the San Francisco service, was especially designed for continuous service in Indian waters and was employed on fortnightly trips each way between Bombay and Aden. Her principal dimensions are: Length, 518 ft Gin; breadth, 63ft; moulded depth, 37ft 9in; tonnage, gross, 10,600. She has' a straight stem and elliptical stern, and is fitted with two sets of quadruple expansion engines of the balanced type, developing 12,000 i.h.p. and burning oil fuel, with forced draught, under Scotch boilers. Accommodation is provided on the bridge, upper and main decks for 142 first-class and 142 second-class passengers, and the dining saloons, are arranged to seat simultaneously the whole of her passengers. The first saloon music room, lounge, smoking rooms and yerandah cafe are placed forward amidships on the bridge deck, while toward the after end. of-the. same deck are the second music saloon, verandah and smoking rooms. On the “upper” deck, beneath, the forward three-quarters of the deck are occupied by large firstclass cabins arranged on the tandem principle, approximately every fourth one being a jingle-berth cabbin. The first-class accommodation includes cabins de luxe, each arranged for one or two passengers and each including a private bathroom. The after part of the upper and main decks are; occupied by second-class saloon cabins for two or three passengers, with one or two fourberth cabins to meet passengers’ occasional especial needs in this respect. Amidships, within both the upper and main deck ranges, bathrooms are amply provided. Midway on the main deck is the second-class dining saloon, 1 extending through the width of the ship, naturally lighted by. 16 large square windows, with tables arranged "for large or’ smaller-parties. Forward on the same deck, beyond the kitchens' and 'service rooms, is the first dining saloon, seating at tables for two, four or more passengers, 146 persons. This saloon also extends through the entire width of the vessel, and derives from 24 windows natural- light and air, i- . The ship has been installed throughout with trunk-way mechancial ventilation, for use in the tropics, and every cabin is provided with natural light and air from its own porthole. There is a separate wardrobe for each passenger, and the cabins generally are amply furnished in all other respects. There is also extensive accommodation for thirdclass passengers. The Razmak, as Lord Rawlinson recalled on the occasion of her launching early in 1925, is named after a remote Indian military station which Lord Inchcape visited during a tour of the North-West Frontier at the conclusion of his work as chairman of the Indian Retrenchment 'Committee, She replaced the Salsette, of 6000 tons, which was withdrawn from the Aden-Bombay service during the war, and which was sunk by ah enemy submarine in the English Channel on July. 20, 1917.