Benarkle was built as "City of Poona" (Ellerman Hall Line) in 1946 - bought by Ben Line in May 1968. She was a "Ministry Ship" - funded by the Ministry of Transport for owners who had lost tonnage during the war - designed to be used by the military in the event of future hostilities. A heavily built ship, with strengthened tweendecks and originally had much more cargo gear than can be seen here. Survived an encounter with a freak wave in 1968, off the Cape coast - probably on account of the heavy construction.

Hi Chris,
wonderful photo of a very beautiful oldie.
Me as well I own a few negatives of the huge collection of Airfoto collection, maybe I find the time to post them once in a day.
Gerolf

Remarkable pic taken by Captain Foxley during his heyday as an aerial ship photographer flying over the Malacca Strait. I have hundreds of his photos in my private collection so it's a real treat to see his original nrgatives scanned in hi-res for the benefit of all those interested in the era of vintage good looking ships.

Thanks for posting these gems, Chris.

Cheers,

Marc