500 miles per unit time

SS Himalaya

Extract from a story about the disaster that has befallen the airline industry.

Back in the 1960s I was an officer aboard the SS Himalaya - SS meaning steam ship - and we circumnavigated the globe carrying passengers in an era before the Boeing 747 transformed things, allowing the masses to travel and not just the few. The photo shows us departing from Sydney, Australia, [. . .] 

In those days, trains were powered by steam too and they were the sole means of transport still in countries like Pakistan where planes had barely started to arrive. 

We used Pakistanis as assistants because they could be paid less than westerners. I did not speak much of their language and my assistant spoke little of mine. Sometimes we were at sea out of sight of land for days so seeing anything was an event. One day, in the middle of the Indian Ocean, we were working on deck and all the passengers suddenly rushed to the ship's rail. My assistant pointed up into the sky saying excitedly "look, Sahib, steam chicken". That steam chicken was a Boeing 707 towing a long white vapor trail en route to somewhere; a rare sight in those days. Our ship's speed was 500 miles per day, that Boeing did that in one hour!

The Sydney Opera House opened in 1973, the SS Himalaya was withdrawn from service in 1974.

Via Iaman