Links to other BI-related sites and pages

BIship bulletin board for former staff is the forum for those who served with British India. Some of the postings which are of general interest may be reproduced on this site from time to time.

A newsletter, published periodically and carrying a miscellany of articles. is available for download on this site or you can have the newsletter delivered automatically to your email address. Visit the newsletter page.

Some pictures of the Spellard 2000 BI reunion at Penang, April 2000. Posted by Don Wood. Don has also launched a BI photo collection starting with some very good shots of Chindwara, Chyebassa and Tairea.

Andrew Lansdale's collection of BI ship pictures includes Bamora, Chilka, Chinkoa, Devonia and Ordia.

Steve Monks's page of ships, with photos of some BI vessels including Dwarka.

Jill Coulthard’s site has BI pages mainly devoted to Chindwara group photos. The top page has good shots of Chindwara (under Sydney Harbour Bridge) and Dunera in the fjords.

Some good pictures of BI cargoships appear on Alan Barker's site, including Bankua.

Sam Barbour's page of BI pictures includes Sirdhana at Bombay and the tanker Ellora in the Atlantic. There is also a picture of one of Devonia's rare 1960s visits to Bombay and a good one of Chindwara at Basrah.

Dunera is the focus of a site which acts as a contact point for former military and school passengers: ms Dunera Through the Years. Stories and reminiscences - from troopship to school ship

Extensive material including personal recollections and interesting photos of Kampala (shown here in Mobasa), Pentakotta and Mantola are now on Tom Barnett's large site. The site is a documentary of a deck cadet's life 50 years ago with plenty of anecdotes and highlights on the BI way of life.

Ian Byard has BI pages among P&O companies on his site. The information includes cabin plans and photographs of Nevasa and Uganda. , including Bankua

Fred Waddington's BI pages with some history, pictures of ships and people, and BI ship class descriptions. There are other pages on more general merchant navy topics.

Martin Southwood has embarked on the mammoth task of committing issues of Chantalian, the house - or should that be ship - magazine of BI's cadet ship Chantala, to the web. Find these fascinating insights to the cadets' way of life. [Martin Southwood's site is not available for the time being]

Ian Byard has BI pages among P&O companies on his site. The information includes cabin plans and photographs of Nevasa and Uganda. , including Bankua

John Feltham 's BI page with photos of Purnea on fire at Penang and Sirdhana

With all cadetships in mind, Paul Wood has created a great resource covering the five companies which operated cadetships, including BI, plus other training material. See his BI page here. (A painting by Robert Lloyd, right, shows Chindwara at Port Said)

The Ships List has a short potted history of BI plus a fleet list (mainly ships which carried passengers) which gives reason for disposal of every ship listed. The page is primarily for those researching family history.

Tom Elliot's BI page with a nice photo of Barpeta underway and a soundclip of "Bye Bye Blackbird" (This site is not available at the moment)

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National Maritime Museum at Greenwich (southeast London) holds BI's business records from 1856 and has the company's staff records from 1868 to 1957. Some restrictions are imposed on accessing the staff records. The museum’s Centre for Research is open Monday-Sunday, 1000-1700 and publishes a number of guides which are available on the website or may be ordered from National Maritime Museum, London SE10 9NF, telephone +44 208 858 4422, fax: +44 208 312 6632.

The Mariners site has comprehensive and definitive information about maritime, ship and crew records. Especially useful for those researching family connections.

P&O's royal charter is availble here (PDF) or on the P&O site