Passenger/cargo ship “Rajula” arriving at Penang, Malaysia, in May 1971
Owner: British India Steam Navigation Co. Ltd., London
Flag: British
Port of registry: London
Builder: Barclay, Curle & Co. Ltd., Glasgow
Gross tons: 8,704
Deadweight: 9,153
Length overall: 145.35 m
Max. draft: 8.016
Engines: 2 steam riciprocating engines, 5,200 s.h.p., by builders; twin-screw
Speed: 12 knots
Completed November 1926; original passenger capacity 5,265 (152 cabin in 3 classes, 5,113 deck); deck passenger capacity later reduced to 3,622)
Employed on Madras/Straits service except for the war years when served as a persoonel carrier, mainly in Eastern waters but also in the Mediterranean
1947: returned to B.I. Service; passenger capacity now 1,899 (37 1st class, 135 2nd class, 426 berthed deck, 1,300 unberthed deck)
1962: underwent a major refit at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' Kobe shipyard; the main external difference being the replacement of her double-banked lifeboats with single-banked ones on gravity davits
1971 October: management transferred to P&O General Cargo Division
1973 October: old to Shipping Corporation of India, renamed “Rangat”
1974: sold for scrapping at Bombay