New Blue Funnel vessels near completion in Hong Kong at Taikoo Dockyard, 1938
IDJ has sent the following newspaper article and images of the ships mentioned in it.
HF I have retyped the article to aid clarity and searches.
Thanks to SCT for proofreading the retyped article.
Hongkong’s ship-building peak is rapidly drawing nearer as two ships for the Blue Funnel Line attain completion at Taikoo Dockyard.
The frames of both vessels stand high above the rest of the buildings and a small army of Chinese workmen swarm like bees up and down the steel networks.
Both ships are being built side by side and the first one, the Breconshire, will take the slipway on December 6.
The Breconshire Source: IDJ Date: Unknown
The Breconshire sequested in WW2 to become HMS Breconshire Source: IDJ Date: Unknown
The other vessel, the Glenorchy, will be launched in March, 1939.
The Glenorchy Source: IDJ Date: Unknown
The ships are each between 9,000 and 10,000 tons. They are the biggest ever to be constructed in Hong Kong and the third largest to be constructed at any yard in the British Empire outside the United Kingdom.
The ships will be used on the Far East trades route to the United Kingdom. They will each have a speed of 16 knots and will have first class accommodation for twelve passengers.
Primarily designed as cargo boats and driven by Diesel engines, the ships will embody all the latest construction ideas in modern marine engineering.
Previously the biggest ship to be built at Taikoo was another Blue Funnel boat of 5,500 tons.
Source: Hong Kong Telegraph 21st September 1938
This article was first posted on 23rd November 2021.
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