Blue Funnel Line - Ocean Steamship Company

 Three of this company’s ships were operating between Singapore and Western Australia at the start of the Second World War:

Ship

Built

Gross Tons

In Service

Centaur 1924 3066 1924-1943
Gorgon 1933 3533 1933-1964
Charon 1936 3703 1936-1964

Centaur was converted in 1940 to a Hospital Ship and placed on loan to the Australian Government. On 14 May 1943 she was torpedoed by the Japanese submarine I.74 while en route Sydney-Papua New Guinea. Gorgon, though surviving the war, suffered enemy bombing damage at least twice: in February 1942 during the evacuation from Singapore and in April 1943 at Milne Bay.