Eighty Years on the Harbour Front: A Short History of the Seafarers' Club, Chennai

History — "Eighty Years on the Harbour Front." The Club began in 1945, when the Joint War Charity Committee set up a society for merchant sailors and opened its first premises at First Line Beach, inaugurated by the Governor of Madras on 20 April 1945. Tamil Nadu leased the Rajaji Salai land in 1956, the foundation stone was laid in 1960 by Dr P. Subbaroyan, and the present building, on Port Trust reclaimed land opposite the Reserve Bank of India, was occupied on 1 February 1962.

The Seafarers' Club, Chennai began in the closing months of the Second World War. In 1945, the Joint War Charity Committee constituted a society to look after merchant sailors passing through the port, and opened its first premises at First Line Beach. The Governor of Madras inaugurated that building on 20 April 1945. What started as wartime relief soon proved to be a permanent need rather than a passing one. In 1956, the Government of Tamil Nadu leased land on Rajaji Salai to the Society for a permanent welfare house. The foundation stone was laid on 13 January 1960 by Dr P. Subbaroyan, then Union Minister for Transport and Communications. Built on land reclaimed by the Chennai Port Trust, the present building was occupied on 1 February 1962, and it has served the merchant marine from that address, directly opposite the Reserve Bank of India, ever since. There is a small archaeological footnote to all this. Antiquities recovered from the site during the construction works of 1960 to 1962 are today housed at the Fort Museum, Chennai, a quiet reminder that this stretch of the harbour front carries a much older history beneath it. Eighty years on, the Club is still run by the Seafarers' Club Charitable Society, Chennai, a registered charitable body held in the custodianship of the Directorate General of Shipping. Governments, ministers and committees have come and gone. The purpose written into the house in 1945 has not changed. The Seafarers' Club, Chennai is managed by the Seafarers' Club Charitable Society, Chennai, under the custodianship of the Directorate General of Shipping, Government of India. Tariffs and facilities are subject to confirmation by the front desk at the time of allotment.