Onions & Bombay Beer – silverfox175

Landaura – launched 1946 – 7829 gt -broken up in Japan in 1972.

My first visit to Bombay (as it was then) as a cadet opened my eyes to India with its teaming millions, garri wallers (motorised rickshaw now commonly called tuk tuks), honking horns, the constant ringing of bicycle bells, and the ever mouth- watering smell of spiced food.

I’d grown to love curries, because at lunchtime on the Company’s vessels, the officers would be offered curry (as well as European food). The curries were different every day, from beef through to fish or vegetables. We had two galleys on the ship (sometimes more if we had Muslim & Hindu crews), one for the European officers and the other for the crew. The deck crew might have all been hired from one village in India or Pakistan, and the engine room crew from another village. The cooks and stewards for the European officers were Goanese, which was an Indian colony of Portugal until 1961.

The Indian cooks might have been Muslim or Hindu, which meant that the officers would not be able to eat their bacon (Muslims will not touch pig meat) and eggs, or their roast beef (Hindu will not touch cow meat), so the solution was to hire people from Goa to attend to the officers, because they were generally Catholics, due to the influence of Portugal, so everyone was happy! The Goanese Company cooks produce great curries.