Port Rashid in Dubai was familiar with goodbyes but this farewell on May 16, 1982 was different.
Dubai’s police band, shipping officials, workers and curious onlookers were not only witnessing the final sailing of a ship but the end of a maritime age.
They were there to say goodbye to the Dwarka, a lifeline between the Gulf and India since the 1940s.
Delivered in 1947 for the British India Steam Navigation Company (BI), Dwarka was a passenger and cargo vessel that carried colonial officials, military personnel and their families during the Empire’s final years but also transported pilgrims, a handful of tourists and, increasingly, migrant workers after the Gulf oil boom.
By 1982, BI was part of the UK's P&O group and the Dwarka was last British passenger ship in the East. As aviation rose and container shipping transformed global trade, the Dwarka became a relic of a fading era in Gulf–India migration and maritime life. The end had come.
Glorious reign of Queen of the Gulf
But the “Queen of the Gulf” made one last triumphant voyage through the Gulf ports before a final farewell in Mumbai on May 16. Forty-four years on, the send-off in Dubai is still remembered.
“I was on the quay with my wife and children to say goodbye and she sailed off with the police band playing on the quay,” said Robert Woods, then in charge of the Gulf headquarters of the British shipping company, Overseas Containers Ltd in Dubai. P&O was part of it.
“Seeing that come to an end was a historical moment,” he said. “It is no good being tearful. It was the end of an era but one had to be realistic.”
the Dwarka was the last of four ‘D’ Class British India Line ships that plied the Gulf to India routes: the others were Dara, Daressa and Dumra. Dara sank off the UAE coast in 1961 after an explosion on-board.
But the Dwarka persisted. According to Michael Quentin Morton in the Liwa journal, it transported people between Mumbai and Karachi during the partition of India. Up until the 1980s, westerners could book a cabin and savour the mysterious East from the deck.
But particularly after the Gulf oil boom, the ship was packed with workers from India and Pakistan who had paid for a cheaper deck passage. They found a spot on the deck, unfurled their bedding and settled in. Single women had their own area at night. In the hold was cargo for the Gulf’s souqs, while on the return journey workers carried radios, household appliances and new clothes for their families.
Arduous journey to begin new lives
It would be a mistake, however, to over-romanticise the journey. The crossing was long, difficult and often stormy, but the ship remained a lifeline for many who came to the Gulf seeking a better life. The route changed over the years but the ship usually called at Mumbai, Karachi, Muscat, Dubai, Doha, Bahrain and Kuwait, with duration of stops varying.
“These were totally different days,” said Mahendra Thakar, who travelled on the Dwarka from Mumbai to Dubai in 1969. “Life was more simple and people did not have as much money.”
Mr Thakar, part of the Bhatia merchant class originating from the Indian subcontinent, said his voyage took about five days and was made during monsoon season. “The ship used to roll and it was scary. It was a difficult voyage.”
He spent the journey socialising with friends and relatives but took no photographs. “Having a camera in those days was like buying a Mercedes today,” he said with a chuckle. “I travelled with between 200 to 300 Indian rupees [Dh7.60 to Dh11.50, or $2 to $3]. Who could afford to spend money on a camera?”
The Dwarka was built in the Swan, Hunter and Wigham Richardson yards at Newcastle in the UK. The ship was 121 metres long, powered by a venerable Doxford diesel engine, and sailed at a stately speed of about 12 knots, or 22kph. On-board was a crew of about 130.
“I travelled on the passenger deck just above the cargo hold,” said Dubai-resident Muljimal Chachara, who travelled from Mumbai to Bahrain in 1957 to join his brother. “We had no seats so we used to roam around the ship and play cards to pass the time.”
Another deck passenger was Subash Khiara, who recalls several trips on the Dwarka up to the 1970s. “I remember being on the wooden deck,” he said, recalling one-way tickets costing 70 to 80 rupees. “Families had mattresses and pillows, and made beds there. We used to see the lights of the ports such as Karachi and Oman.”
A refit in Singapore in 1979 modernised her and reduced the number of deck passengers to just over 500. The ship used to have close to 1,000 but the refit prolonged the Dwarka's life by several years.
End of an era
“It felt like the end of an age the moment I went on-board,” said Kevin Patience, a diver who undertook a hull inspection of the ship in Bahrain in 1978. “Here was a relic of the past.” Mr Patience, who is from the UK, then travelled on the Dwarka from Bahrain to Karachi in 1982.
“The ship was mainly full of Indians going home, as it was still the cheapest way,” he said. “What was interesting was some traders bought tickets to Mumbai to sell goods to those going home. They would spread out wares on carpets, sat there [on deck] and sold.”
He also recalled visiting the ships galley that was still coal-fired. “Curry was prepared by the tonne and something on the order of 4,000 chapattis a day were made.”
The Dwarka enjoyed late-career fame when it was featured by the BBC. A programme called An Arabian Voyage is a remarkable record of the ship, made only a few years before it was scrapped.
The presenter, John Mackenzie, gave a striking account of life on-board, from poignant footage of the workers’ wives and family seeing them off on the Mumbai quayside to Goan cooks and Indian Army officers’ wives playing cards. He interviewed the charismatic commander, Captain GA Hankin, who alluded to the ship’s uncertain future. “If the ship continues, I will be here until September or October this year,” Capt Hankin said wistfully. “And I hope she does.”
The footage also shows her in Dubai. “Dwarka was very much part of Dubai life,” said Mr Woods. “They could see her there [at Port Rashid] and she was always quite smoky, so you could see her smoke, too.”
But in some ways the fate of the Dwarka could be seen in Dubai, with the programme noting “Dubai is booming” and one of the opening shots showing a plane soaring over the Deira Clocktower.
Dubai was becoming an aviation hub with the establishment of Emirates only a few years away. Globally, commercial passenger shipping was on the decline and container ports were the future. A new port in Jebel Ali had been opened by Queen Elizabeth II a few years before and the days of slow cargo and passenger commercial travel were numbered.
The Dwarka also featured in Richard Attenborough’s 1982 film Gandhi but the end was nigh. Having prolonged the Dwarka’s life by a few years and while still profitable, the decision was made to end its service due mainly to the rise of cheaper and faster airfares, with long-term trends showing passenger decline. The Dwarka had been operating beyond a typical lifespan of 20 years.
“People demanded more than just a marked-out chalk passage on the deck,” said Mr Woods. “It was much cheaper than the airline but you're sitting on the deck with your suitcase.”
Her last voyage was from Karachi to Mumbai and, on May 16, 1982 a final reception was held on-board in Mumbai before she sailed back to Karachi to the Gadani Beach ship-breaking yard to be dismantled.
“This was more important than saying goodbye to the actual vessel,” said Mr Woods. “It was to say thank you to the Indians who'd done all the careful work in Mumbai over the years.”
In Port Rashid, the Dwarka’s smoke has long since cleared. But her memory lives on. P&O was bought by DP World in 2006 and its support of the P&O Heritage Office in the UK ensures the Dwarka’s story endures. “DP World care for the P&O heritage,” said Mr Woods.
Her legacy also lives on in the dwindling band of those who worked and sailed on her, and online, with snippets of video and sepia-tinted photographs remembering a bygone way of travel between the Gulf and India.
