SS Vyner Brooke

|+SS Vyner Brooke

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{{Infobox ship career

|Ship country= Sarawak

|Ship flag= {{shipboxflag|Kingdom of Sarawak}}

|Ship name= Vyner Brooke

|Ships architect= FG. Ritchie

|Ship namesake= Sir Charles Vyner Brooke

|Ship owner= Sarawak Steamship Co

|Ship operator= Ritchie & Bisset

|Ship registry= Kuching

|Ship identification= *Call sign VSBJ (by 1934)

{{ICS|Victor}}{{ICS|Sierra}}{{ICS|Bravo}}{{ICS|Juliet}}

|Ship route= Kuching – Singapore

|Ship ordered=

|Ship builder= Ramage & Ferguson, Leith

|Ship original cost=

|Ship yard number= 264

|Ship laid down=

|Ship launched=10 November 1927

|Ship completed= February 1928

|Ship christened=

|Ship acquired=

|Ship maiden voyage=

|Ship in service=

|Ship out of service=

|Ship fate= Sunk by aircraft, 14 February 1942

|Ship notes=

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{{Infobox ship characteristics

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|Ship class=

|Ship type=

|Ship tonnage=*{{GRT|1670}}, {{NRT|713}}

|Ship displacement=

|Ship length= {{convert|240.7|ft|abbr=on}}

|Ship beam= {{convert|41.3|ft|abbr=on}}

|Ship draught= {{convert|16|ft|2+3/4|in|abbr=on|2}}

|Ship depth= {{convert|16.1|ft|abbr=on}}

|Ship decks= 1

|Ship deck clearance=

|Ship power= 297 NHP

|Ship propulsion=*2 × triple-expansion engines;

2 × screws

|Ship speed= {{convert|12|kn|km/h}}

|Ship capacity=*44 × 1st class passengers

200+ × deck passengers

|Ship crew=

|Ship notes= royal yacht

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SS Vyner Brooke was a Scottish-built steamship that was both the royal yacht of Sarawak and a merchant ship frequently used between Singapore and Kuching. She was named after the 3rd Rajah of Sarawak, Sir Charles Vyner Brooke. At the outbreak of war with Japan, the Royal Navy requisitioned and armed her. Japanese aircraft sank her in 1942.

Description

The naval architect FG Ritchie, of Ritchie & Bisset, Singapore, designed the ship, and Ramage & Ferguson of Leith built her. The Ranee of Sarawak launched her on 10 November 1927, and she was completed in February 1928.{{cite journal |year=1927 |title=SS Vyner Brooke |journal=The Sarawak Gazette |volume=7 |issue=1 November 1927 |pages=278–279 |url=http://www.pustaka-sarawak.com/gazette/gazette_uploaded/1370909221.pdf |access-date=30 January 2018}} The ship sailed from Leith for Singapore on 17 April 1928.{{cite journal |year=1928 |title=Notes |journal=The Sarawak Gazette |volume=8 |issue=1 March 1928 |pages=46 |url= http://www.pustaka-sarawak.com/gazette/gazette_uploaded/1397440921.pdf |access-date=30 January 2018}}{{cite web |title=Vyner Brooke |work=Scottish Built Ships |publisher=Caledonian Maritime Research Trust |url= https://www.clydeships.co.uk/view.php?&ref=51204 |access-date=8 September 2024}}

Her registered length was {{convert|240.7|ft|abbr=on}}, her beam was {{convert|41.3|ft|abbr=on}}, her depth was {{convert|16.1|ft|abbr=on}}, and her draught was {{convert|16|ft|2+3/4|in|abbr=on|2}}. Her tonnages were {{GRT|1670}} and {{NRT|713}}.{{cite book |url= https://plimsoll.southampton.gov.uk/shipdata/pdfs/34/34b0894.pdf |year=1934 |title=Lloyd's Register of Shipping |volume=II.–Steamers and Motorships of 300 tons gross and over |place=London |publisher=Lloyd's Register of Shipping |via=Southampton City Council}} Cargo was handled by two three-ton cranes at each hatch, and one 20-ton derrick.

Vyner Brooke was flush-decked, with 'tween decks, all sheathed in {{convert|2.5|in|cm|1|adj=on}} steel, with six watertight bulkheads. The main deck was as clear as possible of structures, for deck passenger use with accommodations forward for crew and aft for stewards, clerks and ship's boys. The refrigeration plant, designed to keep the cold store two degrees below freezing, was on the main deck. First class cabins amidships on the upper deck provided berths for 44 passengers, with a {{convert|40|x|24|ft|1|abbr=on}} saloon forward of the cabins. A staircase at the after end of the saloon led to a shade deck and two de luxe cabins and a private sitting room. The ship was equipped with wireless telegraphy. She carried lifeboats, rafts and lifebelts for 650 people and could carry at least 200 deck passengers.

She had six corrugated furnaces with a combined grate area of {{convert|124|sqft|0}} that heated two single-ended Barclay, Curle & Co. boilers with a combined heating surface of {{convert|4390|sqft|0}}. These fed steam at 180 lb_f/in² to a three-cylinder triple expansion steam engine built by Ramage and Ferguson. The engine was rated at 297 NHP and drove twin screws.

Royal Navy requisition

When Japan entered World War II the Royal Navy requisitioned Vyner Brooke. She was painted grey, and armed with a four-inch deck gun forward, two Lewis guns aft, and depth charges, and commissioned as HMS Vyner Brooke.{{cite book |last=Shaw |first=Ian Winton |year=2010 |title=On Radji Beach |place=Sydney |publisher=Macmillan, Pan Macmillan Australia |isbn=9781405040242 |lccn=2010530252 |page=85 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=jJkyTB2cf6oC&pg=PT85}} Her Australian and British officers were mostly Malay Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve, and were asked to remain aboard.{{cite book |last=Smith |first=Colin |year=2005 |title=Singapore Burning |place=London |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=0670913413 |lccn=2007362297 |page=142 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=LvPjNAMacDsC&pg=PT142}} The ship's company, under the command of her peacetime captain, Richard E Borton, was augmented by reservists, some survivors of {{HMS|Prince of Wales|53|6}} and {{HMS|Repulse|1916|2}}, and European and Malay professional seafarers.

Sinking and massacre

On 14 February 1942, while evacuating nurses and wounded servicemen away from Singapore she was bombed by Japanese aircraft and sunk. Some of the survivors who reached Bangka Island east of Sumatra in the Dutch East Indies were massacred by the Imperial Japanese Army. Others were imprisoned in Palembang and Muntok POW camps.

SS Vyner Brooke

Description

Royal Navy requisition

Sinking and massacre

References

Further reading