Name of a Passenger Ship from 1937

Submitted by rbraure on Tue, 04/04/2023 - 20:43

Dear all,

The island of La Réunion nearby Madagascar in the Indian Ocean is home to a large community of people from Guangdong who for most of them emigrated to this part of the world between the last part of the 19th century until the 1930's. 

By 1937, the world  and especially China was in crisis. This prompted many overseas Chinese to go back to China during that year before moving later to Hong-Kong.  The family of my wife made the same choice and left La Réunion most likely in July / August 1937. The attached picture shows a passeport issued by the French authorities end of June 1937 and mentions that its bearer was to travel by ship. The name of that ship is intriguing as it cannot be traced through a regular search engine on the internet. 

I was wondering whether anyone on this forum would know about this ship and its destination (although I strongly suspect it went to Hong Kong).

In the main body of the passeport it says in french: Sur le navire "Swarthontel". This is a rather unusual name. Maybe the ship came from South Africa en route to Hong Kong and stopped over in La Réunion ?

Maybe it can be read like: S whartontel? 

I look forward to and suggestion. Many thanks in advance for your input.

Régis

 

Passeport_to_China_1937
Passeport_to_China_1937, by rbraure

Tags

Jill nailed it - well done

The S.S. Swartenhondt, part of the Orient-Java-African line, has monthly sailings from Shanghai, Manila, Saigon, Bangkok, Singapore and Batavia to Mauritius, Lourenco-Marques, Durban, East London, Port Elizabeth, Mossel Bay and Cape Town. Calls on return journey at Tamatave and Reunion and at Rodriguez.

"SWARTENHONDT" (5,100 tons) to Saigon and Hong Kong July 22

Source: The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser, page 14, 1st July 1937

As the source above is from a Singaporean newspaper - the arrival date in Singapore would be 22nd July 1937. 

And to tie up with a Hong Kong newspaper, the Swartenhondt was due to arrive in Hong Kong on 28th July 1937...

Source: Hong Kong Daily Press, page 14, 22nd July 1937

And to confirm:

The ship arrived in Hong Kong from Saigon on the evening of 28th July 1937:

Source: The Hong Kong Telegraph (Final Edition), page 4, 28th July 1937

I've chosen those dates as it was the next ship available after 29th June 1937

Swarten Hondt...wow!

Many, many thanks to Jill and David for sharing these findings.

This will help us piece together their journey back home in any case.  

Details of the ship SWARTENHONDT appear not entirely correct. To put the record straight, especially for birtwistlewiki, here are the complete details.

Builder:  Nederlandsche Scheepsbouw Maatschappij NV Amsterdam length 117,03 breadth 15,05 hull 8,14 metres gross tonnage upon launching in 1923 4661 delivered 3rd May 1924 sailed for the Dutch East Indies 9th May 1924. Owner Koninklijke Paketvaart Maatschappij (KPM). In April 1941 chartered by the SMN (Stoomvaart Maatschappij Nederland) for service in the Persian Gulf. Sailed in 1942 with evacuees from Dutch East Indies to Australia. In March 1942 chartered by the British Ministry of War Transport (BMWT). Sailed as troopship and later on chartered by the USA War Shipping Administration. 12th August 1945 arrived from Brisbane in Biak (Dutch New Guinea). Sailed for the BMWT between September and December 1945. 15th December 1945 requisitioned by the Dutch government and time chartered for the Dutch East Indies government. 7th March 1946 handed back to the KPM. Still registered in Batavia (Jakarta). Homeport changed to Amsterdam in November 1947. At the end of 1958 sold to Dah Chong Hong Ltd. Hong Kong for demolition, where she arrived 20th January 1959.

She was built as a cargo vessel with passenger accommodation 24 first class, 27 second and 1466 tween deck passengers. In 1947 she was altered to 127 cabin passengers and 1248 tween deck passengers.

swartenhondt