For nearly two decades she was part of Nourse Line, which carried Girmityas (indentured labourers) from India to colonies in the Caribbean and the Pacific.

In the 1900s Charles Connell and Company of Scotstoun, Glasgow built a series of ships to the same design for James Nourse.

[1][2][3][4] In 1911 Cammell, Laird & Co of Birkenhead on the River Mersey built Chenab for Nourse for £52,000[5] to the same general design.

[10] The table below lists some of the voyages Chenab made in her first five years of her career, carrying indentured Indian workers to the Caribbean and the Pacific.

On 24 August 1913, Chenab was returning from Demerara to Calcutta when she grounded off Stoney Point, South Africa.

[5] In 1930 William McKnight Docharty bought Chenab for £14,000 on behalf of the Khedivial Mail S.S. Company.

[14] In 1940 the UK Ministry of Shipping requisitioned Al Rawdah for war service and appointed the British India Steam Navigation Company to manage her.

[5][17] Metal Industries, Limited scrapped the ship at Rosyth on the Firth of Forth, starting work in May 1953.