The December mystery ship is the twin screw motorship Kri Tanjung Pandan, shown alongside at Djakarta in naval livery following transfer in 1977 by the Indonesian Government, for whom she had hitherto operated as Gunung Djati carrying pilgrims, to their Navy for service as a troopship.
Completed as Pretoria for the German East Africa Line, she was one of two sisters built by Blöhm + Voss at Hamburg in 1936. During World War II she operated as an accommodation and later hospital ship for the German Navy. In May 1945 she was seized by the British as a war prize and sailed for the Ministry of Transport under Orient Line management as Empire Doon. After a refit in 1949 she was renamed Empire Orwell and in 1958 was chartered to Pakistan as a pilgrim ship.
Later that year she was bought by Blue Funnel and, following a four-month refit on the Clyde, was renamed Gunung Djati. She was sold to the Indonesian Government in 1962 for service to Mecca and was disposed of by the Navy in 1987 for demolition.
Alan Blackwood, Troon, Ayrshire
