Researching the above faded shipping ephemera , a single piece of writing paper bearing the letterhead of the British Blue Funnel Line's TSS Anchises, below, resulted in some interesting discoveries.
One being that the company , which gave its vessels names from classical Greek legends or history , was the first one to employ a female marine engineer, Victoria Drummond (1894-1978), aboard the liner Anchises, named after the father of Aeneas , rescued by his son from the fires of Troy, from 1922-1924, in which she made four trips to Australia , one to China . It was not a case of smooth sailing as some men gave her hell , as did several female passengers .
Her position with the company was as the 10th engineer aboard ship ; then as refrigeration engineer on the cargo ship Perseus , ( son of Zeus and Danae , who slew the Medusa and saved Andromeda from a sea monster ) , in 1943; then in 1946 as resident engineer at the Caledonian Shipbuilding yard, Dundee, supervised completion of Rhexenor and Stentor, two new ships to replace Blue Funnel vessels lost in WWll, numbering 41 in all , 16 in WWl .
Serving in the British Merchant Navy during the war , she was awarded the MBE for bravery under fire and also was the first female member of the Institute of Marine Engineers. It is not possible to say this letterhead is from the Anchises on which Drummond served as over the years Alfred Holt and Company, trading as the Blue Funnel Line , had a number of vessels of the same name , one bombed by Germans and eventually sunk.
A 1947 built vessel bearing the same name Anchises was attacked and bombed twice on the way from Woosung to Shanghai on the Wangpoo River in 1949 by Chinese Nationalist planes ; it was towed to Japan for repairs and renamed Alcinous .
A 1947 built vessel bearing the same name Anchises was attacked and bombed twice on the way from Woosung to Shanghai on the Wangpoo River in 1949 by Chinese Nationalist planes ; it was towed to Japan for repairs and renamed Alcinous .
Another of the Blue Funnel vessels , Nestor, carried Australian Expeditionary Force troops in WWl , evacuated British children to Australia in WWll and after its final voyage to Australia in 1950 was scrapped .
A November 1931 newspaper advertisement offered special first class round trips to China , Japan and Australia aboard the TSS Anchises for 145 pounds; There was a similar special rate to Australia via the Canary Islands and South Africa for 125 pounds aboard the TSS Nestor.
The letterhead was found in Adelaide along with other nautical items, including the Bass Strait 41 ton ketch Leillateah , owned by the McDougall Brothers of Recherche, a pioneering sawmilling family that battled bushfires that destroyed working men's huts , poor loading facilities which they overcame by building a large landing stage for interstate ships .
A member of the family , Stanley Robert McDougall (1889-1968), won the Victoria Cross and the Military Medal for extreme bravery at Dernancourt in WWl, his uniform, medals and a Lewis gun he used on display in the Hall of Valour , Canberra.
Shipping records show the ketch was involved in a collision with another ketch , John and Margaret , off Woody Island , in the D'Entrecasteaux Channel, July 14 1899 ; carrying timber from Devonport ran aground at Nine Mile Beach in 1901 ; still sailing , to Melbourne , in mid 20th century .
A November 1931 newspaper advertisement offered special first class round trips to China , Japan and Australia aboard the TSS Anchises for 145 pounds; There was a similar special rate to Australia via the Canary Islands and South Africa for 125 pounds aboard the TSS Nestor.
The letterhead was found in Adelaide along with other nautical items, including the Bass Strait 41 ton ketch Leillateah , owned by the McDougall Brothers of Recherche, a pioneering sawmilling family that battled bushfires that destroyed working men's huts , poor loading facilities which they overcame by building a large landing stage for interstate ships .
A member of the family , Stanley Robert McDougall (1889-1968), won the Victoria Cross and the Military Medal for extreme bravery at Dernancourt in WWl, his uniform, medals and a Lewis gun he used on display in the Hall of Valour , Canberra.
Shipping records show the ketch was involved in a collision with another ketch , John and Margaret , off Woody Island , in the D'Entrecasteaux Channel, July 14 1899 ; carrying timber from Devonport ran aground at Nine Mile Beach in 1901 ; still sailing , to Melbourne , in mid 20th century .
