Harsha Vardhana

Harsha Vardana at anchor in Port Blair, Dec 2008 

Having seen this beautiful lady at anchor off Port Blair in 2008 I only very much later have looked a bit into the history of her and discovered she has actually been built in India in 1973 at Mazagon Docks in Mumbai, launched 11/1974, Harsha Vardhana was originally ordered and laid down not for the Shipping Corporation of India (SCI), but for the historic Mogul Line Limited (which was later merged into SCI in the 1980s).

She started in traffic to East Africa but then from the 1980's served most of her operational life as a lifeline to the Andaman & Nicobar islands from the Indian subcontinent, maybe also due to the merger. She was calling ports at Calcutta, Visakhapatnam and Chennai to Port Blair on the Andaman island bringing cargo and passengers to and from there. It looks on the pictures that she had 2 holds forward of the superstructure with her own cranes to load and discharge. Seeing on various sources that her cargo capacity is listed as 1500tons but her deadweight is over 5000 tons so I think that maybe she also had a capacity to load some liquid cargo, e.g. oil for local power plants as confirmed in various sources online.

Her name I think is taken from the Indian history: King Harshavardhana was the son of Prabhakar Vardhana, the founder of the Pushyabhuti Dynasty or the Vardhana Dynasty. He is considered one of the most prominent rulers of the 7th century. He had ascended the throne of Thaneshwar and Kannauj on the death of his brother, Rajyavardhana and consolidated his kingdom in northern India.

Mazagon Docks still exist today but they seem to be solely for Naval projects these days but as per Wikipedia they also build offshore and other merchant shipping tonnage. The company's shipyards were established in the 18th century and after various owners the yard was eventually  became, 'Mazagon Dock Limited' and was registered as a public company in 1934.

Mazagon Docks

Even Mogul Line seemed to have been a big Company in its heyday that came from humble beginnings, in 1888 founded as a premier private liner service primarily known for transporting Hajj pilgrims between India (Bombay/Karachi) and Saudi Arabia (Jeddah). The downfall explained by Mr Furtado on Ships Nostalgia: "After three years of dithering, Mogul Line was formally merged with the giant Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) in 1986. As dowry, Mogul Line brought along Rs.112 crore in accumulated losses and it was the end of line for a 109 year old shipping company. The "Great Shipping Depression" of the 1980's claimed the economic lives of many established household names." 

I remember this too in Scandinavia myself as a young 15 year old lad trying to get established as seafarer and was really struggling to find a job when there were so many unemployed seafarers about due to failing shipping companies who were selling their tonnage as fast as they could.

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I found an old timetable from 2020 still live online at the andamanbeacon website, it shows timings and prices for all the island vessels that were in that time in traffic. Funnily they do show Harsha Vardhana also but by then she had already reached the Alang beach 2 years ago. 

Credit: andamanbeacon

Then a pleasant surprise, the father of a colleague of mine sailed a contract for Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) on Harsha Vardhana, see below the copies of Mr Jose Noronha from Goa and the discharge book entries. First stint was signed on 24th March in Bombay to 5th July 1976 and the second was 6th July 1976 to 2nd Jan 1977, signed off in Madras. As they follow each other I presume he was maybe promoted or transferred to another rank. My colleague was at the time 1 year old, Mr. Noronha had stayed onboard 8 months but he got home to enjoy family life until July when he signed on again, this time to another ship, m/v State of Madhya Pradesh.

Jose Noronha, ca 1957

Discharge books

Harsha Vardhana entries

Some pictures I found online about Harsha Vardhana:

Harsha Vardhana view fwd

Credit: Mohd Sahil (Historical & Beautiful Andaman & Nicobar Islands group FB)

Harsha Vardhana underway

Credit: Mohd Sahil (Historical & Beautiful Andaman & Nicobar Islands group FB)

Harsha Vardhana in Port Blair

Credit: Mohd Sahil (Historical & Beautiful Andaman & Nicobar Islands group FB)

Passengers disembarking Harsha Vardhana in 2007

(credit: Larry L Jackson)

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Harsha Vardhana in media:

Not directly related to Harsha Vardhana but there is a downloadable "Estimates committee" report from 29 Apr 1982 (eparlib.nic.in) that already back then is concerned by many things not working adequately in Port Blair, like e.g. 

- Numerous difficulties of shipping and shippers were brought to the notice of the Committee during their brief visit to the Islands in January, 1982;

- It is difficult to accept the statement made by the Andaman & Nicobar Administration that there we~ no cases of pilferage at Port Blair. Lack of formal complaints from traders on this account does not necessarily mean lack of pilferage;

- Andaman and Nicobar Islands is under fast development and the frequency of the ships is constantly  increasing. Therefore more berthing capacity is urgently required for the proper handling of cargoes  which are at present being damaged at port due to short space, also the movement of passengers, as the travelling from here to Mainland is mostly dependent upon the ships;

- Many commodities like potatoes and onions are so much damaged that at times they are found unfit for human consumption and have to be thrown away. (Sounds more like a bad chief mate who did poor loading arrangements. Editor);

- The Committee are pained to note that in Andaman and Nicobar Islands where already there is acute shortage of vessels, even the vessels already available are not being maintained in serviceable condition. Out of 33 vessels of different categories, only 20 were reported to be in operation in February 1982 and the remaining 13 were grounded for repairs of various types;

- The Committee were surprised to learn in evidence that Secretary (Shipping and Transport) was completely unaware of the fact that SS Cholunga, a ship meant for inter-island traffic, had been out of operation since August 1981;

- Two machines have been lying idle since 1974 and two in 1978 about one machine no records are available. That three of the machines would have been idle since the very beginning for want of certain accessories and two for want of electric wiring not only shows how incompetent and irresponsible the indenting, engineering and using officers have been but also testifies to the failure of senior officers to have detected these lapses for such a long time. 

It seems like a very dysfunctional administrative equation with many departments officers not knowing what the other does or has. No to mention the large fleet of vessels in various state of repair and nobody seems to know when they'll get fixed up. Meanwhile, tourism is picking up, demands for more transport capacity is raised. Not sure what the situation is today as I think they must have some cargo ships to bring in supplies to the A&N archipelago. Also a bit puzzling as to a country with such a long coastline to have so little shipping along it.

On 21st July 2002 Times of India reports that Harsha Vardhana grounded near Gaonkhali in East Midnapore district after it developed a technical snag, she had a steering gear failure and hit three jetties of Kolkata Port Trust. The ship was crossing the Hooghly river before entering the Bay of Bengal.

On 30th September 2009 the Telegraph India reports that the inter island ships came to good use during the airline strikes as stranded people resorted to sea transport as opposed to flying.

Harsha Vardhana freshly painted in Colombo, Sri Lanka, 24th March 2016

Credit: Sharon Poole (marinetraffic)

On 16th May 2012 Andaman seekha reported Fire onboard in Calcutta at Khidderpore jetty. It appears a number of cabins including the Master's had been gutted by fire, probably from the engine room resulting for a shortcircuit, see below excerpt. 

"Port Blair/ Kolkata, May 15: A fire broke out in M V Harshavardhana, a passenger vessel of the Shipping Corporation of India, this afternoon at Khiddirpore dock, Kolkata. The ship was anchored for 18 days at the dock for repairing.

According to sources, the incident took place at around 10.30 am. Three fire tenders of KoPT and six engines from West Bengal Fire and Emergency Services brought the fire under control after seven to eight hour long struggle. No casualties were reported, sources added.

According to report 10 cabins including the cabin of the captain of the ship and the engine room has been gutted. Meanwhile, the sailing of m/v Harshavardhan on 22nd May 2012 has been cancelled."

Port Blair, on 19 Sept 2016 Andaman Seekha reported of a fatality onboard m/v Harsha Vardhana where a Mohd Shahajan, 55, had gotten hit by a derrick after the wire had parted. The article further elaborates that the poor condition had been mentioned in the minutes of several safety meetings.

Also the Directorate General of Shipping attended for an investigation onboard and writes following on their findings in the "Report on Shipping casualties 2014, 2015 & 2016" published on 18th July 2019. No mention of the safety committee minutes that Andaman Seekha reported on.

Credit: DGS report on casualties

28th Sept 2016 Harsha Vardhana was reported to media having an issue with the gensets and had to stop for repairs enroute in the open seas, apparently the weather had been inclement and passengers upset with seasickness. On YouTube there is a video of her having arrived Vizag port and disembarking passengers.

Credit: Vesseltracker

"Visakhapatnam, 29th September 2016 (ANI): Andaman-bound ship MV Harshvardhan, which was stranded off Visakhapatnam coast with more than 500 passengers, returned after facing a glitch in generators on Thursday. The ship which was stuck in the Bay of Bengal since Tuesday night halted due to a technical snag. Reportedly, all passengers were safe and had been provided food and water." 

At the same time on "X" (ex Twitter) the Indian Navy posted they are standing by for any assistance as the vessel was at the anchorage effecting repairs.

17th Nov 2016 Andaman Seekha reported a man missing from Harsha Vardhana as they found Mr Modi Ram's belongings onboard. He was 66 years from Uttar Pradesh, Ghaziabad, sadly could not find any additional reports whether he was found again or not.

In May 2018 the Porthole Magazine of New York Branch announced a seminar by Tom Rinaldi that was going to tell about his passage from Kolkata to Andamans on Harsha Vardhana, shortly before she was decommissioned. The advert features a nice picture of the vessel, see below.

Credit: Tom Rinaldi

30th August 2018 Times of India reported that the ship service to Andamans is stopping, there seems to be blame apportioned on the central Government and cheap flights that match the ship ticket price.

As per this travel blog by Neeraj Narayanan, consumption of alcohol was forbidden on the inter island ferries, might be understandable as the transit was probably not the most entertaining venue they embarked on. The post further gives some insights in how it was traveling on the ferry to the Andamans.

I also found a Mr Arun Kumar that has posted a 10min video on YouTube that shows Harsha Vardhana in operation, in the video description he offers following information among times to and pricing for taking the ferry over to the Andamans: 

"The exotic Andaman Islands nestled in the southern tip of India is a great vacation spot any time of the year. The island paradise is home to historic sites, white sand beaches, lush rain forests and amazing water adventures. While planning an Andaman trip in itself is an adventure, taking a ship to Andaman will take it on a whole new level all together. 

Here is all the information you need if you plan to take the sea route to reach Andaman. There are three ports in India from where you can sail to Andaman – Kolkata, Chennai and Vishakapatnam / Vizag. Each comes with different time durations. If you are not a resident of these cities then you’ll need to factor in costs for getting here. You may also need to factor in costs for a minimum of 2 days stay in the city depending on your ship’s schedule. 

There are five ships operating between the main land of India and the island. These are M.V.  Nicobar, M.V. Nancowry, M.V. Akbar, M.V. Harshavardhana and M.V. Swaraj Dweep. Journey time on an average, you’ll need 55-70 hours when taking a ship to Port Blair. 

MV Harshavardhana – This ship has a total capacity of around 748 Passengers with 153 cabins and 595 Bunk or Deck. The total cargo capacity is around 1500 MT. This ship was the oldest among all and has been decommissioned in March, 2018."

Harsha Vardhana in 2018, looking pretty tired

Credit: Saorabh Chourasia

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In January 2019 Jim Shaw from Shipsmonthly wrote an article of the Indian passenger fleet as seen below, I think it gives a bit of an overview of where the domestic shipping was planned to go: 

Seen in better days, the 9,700gt Harsha-Vardhana had accommodation for 753 passengers in four classes as originally built and 2,709m3 of space for cargo in two holds forward. A&N ADMINISTRATION

PASSENGER SHIPS

In recent months India has seen two of its oldest passenger vessels retired as new ships are being built by the Cochin Shipyard in Kerala state to serve the Andaman and Nicobar islands. Completed over 47 years ago for Mogul Line, the 8,279gt Akbar was retired last year and is expected to be broken up for scrap shortly, while the slightly younger 1974-built Harsha-Vardhana has already gone to breakers at Alang. The former was built by Denmark's Elsinore Shipyard for Mogul Line's pilgrim trade in 1971, but made her last pilgrim voyage in 1995 under Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) ownership.

Harsha-Vardhana was completed by India's Mazagon Dock as a replacement for former British India Steam Navigation tonnage in the SCI fleet nearly 45 years ago. Each carried passengers as well as cargo. In Harsha-Vardhana's case, this included 25 in Delux class, 28 in A First class, 100 in Second class and 600 in bulk class as built, along with 2,709m3 of cargo in two holds forward. 

Named for India's last great emperor, the 9,700gt ship had a funnel fitted with a 'halo' device, similar to that fitted on German Atlantic Line's 25,022gt Hamburg several years earlier, to make it stand out. Akbar, with more cargo capacity, had accommodation for 80 First class passengers and 1,500 pilgrims, but carried only 12 passengers when operating off season. After Mogul Line was merged into  SCI, and the vessel was placed in Andaman Islands service, her passenger capacity was modified to 121 in Cabin class and 1,414 in Dormitory class. Both ships were to have been retired several decades ago, but were saved by the 2004 earthquake and resulting tsunami that caused major destruction along the Indian coastline and in the Nicobar and Andaman islands. 

Their planned replacements at that time were the new passenger-cargo carriers Nicobar and Nancowry, completed by Poland's Stocznia Szczecinska in 1991-92, and the similar Swaraj Dweep, finished by India's Hindustan Shipyard in 1999. These ships were built to a basic military transport configuration, with geared cargo holds forward and cabins for 300 passengers, with another 900 bunked in dormitories.

SIX-YEAR DELAY

The three vessels were joined in 2011 by the 8,402gt Campbell Bay, built by the Western India Shipyard to a design furnished by the National Ship Design and Research Centre at Visakhapatnam. Unfortunately, the chief designer for this project passed away during the design process, delaying the vessel's delivery for nearly six years. 

Campbell Bay, named for a location on Great Nicobar Island, has accommodation for 40 in Delux class, 80 in First class and 380 in dormitory class, but accommodates very little cargo. These four ships will be joined, and several possibly replaced, by two new combination vessels being built by the Cochin yard for delivery in 2020, if production targets can be met. Designed by Denmark's Knud E. Hansen in cooperation with India's Smart Engineering & Design Solutions, they will have a passenger capacity of 1,200 and carry up to 1,000 tonnes of containerised freight. 

Also under construction are two smaller ships that will accommodate 500 passengers and 150 tonnes of cargo while trading in inter-island service. As these four ships are being built, a large catamaran, the 450-passenger Coral Queen, has been leased for five years as a relief vessel following service as the ferry Aremiti among the French Polynesian Islands in the South Pacific.

One of three similar ships completed to a Polish design in the 1990s, the 11,195gt Nicobar, now 27 years old, features cargo holds forward and accommodation for up to 1,200 passengers aft. T. OSTSEE

Completed in Denmark over 47 years ago the combination passenger/cargo carrier Akbar was

retired from service on the Andaman Islands route last year and is expected to go for scrap. A&N

Beached at Alang, the 44-year-old Harsha Vardhana, a ship of 5,909 light displacement tons (LDT),

fetched $388.50 per LDT when recently sold for breaking under the name Vardhan. NGO PLATFORM

Due to be completed in 2020 are two 155m by 21m 18-knot combination vessels that will be capable of carrying 1,200 passengers forward, and containers. SED

Twin 16-knot inter-island vessels being built by India's state-owned Cochin shipyard will measure 89.4m by 17.5m and accommodate 500 passengers. SED

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I checked Harsha Vardhana on Equasis and it appears she was delivered in 30th Nov 1974 to Lloyd's register Class and then through her operational life she was concurrently (?) with LR and the Indian register of shipping. IRS class was withdrawn 5th April 2018. Other than that there is nothing else as she never left India after this database was established, except for maybe maintenance in Colombo. On her last trip to Alang she was registered to Palau flag for some odd reason. 

Travel ad for Harsha Vardhana

(credit: trains-worldexpresses)

On the other hand I have also received a comment from a reader that claims to have joined Harsha Vardhana in 1974 on a voyage from Mumbai to Dubai via Muscat, perhaps this was her maiden voyage? It also seems the Shipping corporation of India had her deployed on foreign going routes in the 70's as I stumbled across this ad for traveling to East Africa on Harsha Vardhana. The voyages started in Mumbai and connected NRI's and globetrotters to Mombasa and Mauritius Islands, but by the turn of 1980's this traffic was phased out due to soaring fuel costs and the rapid dominance of commercial aviation. After this the regular traffic to Andamans ensued until her decommissioning.

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Scrapping report of Harsha Vardhana

Credit: Robin des Bois shipbreaking magazine no 51 from May 2018

Specifications found online

IMO 7219026
Ordered: 1st May 1973

Launched: 11/1974
Yard: Mazagon Dock Ltd, Mumbai
Arrived Alang 28th Apr 2018

Propulsion
Engine Sulzer x 1
Description 6RD68
Factory Cegielski 
Builder Poznan
HP 6,600/ kW 4,853

Tonnages
TDW 5,269 (in other sources 5563TDW/ 3650cu.m. bale)
GT 8,871
LTD 5,849

Dimensions
LOA 132.50m
LBP 120.00m
Beam 21.50m
Depth 11.60m (from margin line?)
Draft 7.0m

Harsha Vardhana beached in Alang for shipbreaking

Credit: Kurt Weissenboeck (marinetraffic)