British India post-war passenger ships / William H. Miller.

A history of the British India Steam Navigation Company Limited, commonly known as the BI, incorporated in 1862 by Scottish merchant, William Mackinnon. BI's basic trade was with the Indian subcontinent, and included transporting many of those involved in the Empire, including doctors, teachers, traders and their families, but also localized passenger trade transporting Indians, Chinese, Malaysians, and south and east Africans. BI trade routes included those to Malaya and Singapore, a mail contract between Aden and Zanzibar, and routes to ports along the East African coast. In May 1914 British India amalgamated with P&O. Up until the start of the Second World War the company flourished with services to East Africa, across the Indian Ocean and to the Far East, however the changing political and economic climate after the war and the effects of decolonisation impacted on the company's fortunes. It branched into tankers in the mid 1950s and P&O took full control by 1971, reorganising BI into separate passenger, cargo and bulk shipping divisions. The book devotes chapters to the following BI ships: Modura, Modasa, Mantola, Matiana, Mulbera, Empire Trooper, Rajula, Dilwara, Dunera, Devonia, Amra, Aronda, Kampala, Karanja, Sangola, Sirdhana, Santhia, Dumra, Dwarka, Dara, Daressa, Mobasa, Mtwara, Leicestershire, Kenya, Uganda, and Nevasa. Illustrated with photographs of the fleet, maps of trade routes and images of advertising material.