RMS Caronia
Encyclopedia
RMS Caronia was a passenger ship
Passenger ship
A passenger ship is a ship whose primary function is to carry passengers. The category does not include cargo vessels which have accommodations for limited numbers of passengers, such as the ubiquitous twelve-passenger freighters once common on the seas in which the transport of passengers is...
of the Cunard Line
Cunard Line
Cunard Line is a British-American owned shipping company based at Carnival House in Southampton, England and operated by Carnival UK. It has been a leading operator of passenger ships on the North Atlantic for over a century...
(then Cunard White Star Line). Launched on 30 October 1947, she served with Cunard until 1967. She was nicknamed the "Green Goddess" by the people of Liverpool because her livery resembled that of the local trams, also known as "Green Goddesses". She is credited as one of the first "dual-purpose" built ships. After leaving Cunard she briefly served as SS Caribia in 1969, after which she was laid up in New York until 1974 when she was sold for scrap. While being towed to Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
for scrapping, she was caught in a storm on 12 August. After her tow lines were cut, she repeatedly crashed on the rocky breakwater outside Apra Harbor
Apra Harbor
Apra Harbor is a deep-water port on the western side of Guam in the Mariana Islands. The harbor is formed by Orote Peninsula in the south and Cabras Island in the north. To the south, the harbor narrows and then widens again to form an inner harbor. The southern end of the harbor is the location...
, Guam
Guam
Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...
subsequently breaking into three.
History
After World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the Cunard White Star Line operated three ships on the Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
—New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
run. The famous RMS Queen Mary
RMS Queen Mary
RMS Queen Mary is a retired ocean liner that sailed primarily in the North Atlantic Ocean from 1936 to 1967 for the Cunard Line...
and RMS Queen Elizabeth
RMS Queen Elizabeth
RMS Queen Elizabeth was an ocean liner operated by the Cunard Line. Plying with her running mate Queen Mary as a luxury liner between Southampton, UK and New York City, USA via Cherbourg, France, she was also contracted for over twenty years to carry the Royal Mail as the second half of the two...
operated an express service, with the smaller and slower RMS Mauretania
RMS Mauretania (1938)
RMS Mauretania was launched on 28 July 1938 at the Cammell Laird yard in Birkenhead, England and was completed in May 1939. A successor to RMS Mauretania , the second Mauretania was the first ship built for the newly formed Cunard White Star company following the merger in April 1934 of the Cunard...
sailing as the third ship on the route. The company placed an order for a running mate to the Mauretania, a ship of similar speed and proportions for the transatlantic run. Ultimately this was not to be the role of the new ship. Cunard White Star's executives decided that the new ship would be built primarily for cruising.
With cruising in mind, the new ship - soon to be named Caronia by Princess Elizabeth
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
- received many different features from her Cunard White Star fleetmates. An outdoor swimming pool was a new thing, as was having a bathroom in every cabin. However, unlike modern cruise ships her accommodation included two classes, first and cabin. Yet on cruises only first class accommodation was offered, meaning the 351 berths in cabin class went unused.
To distinguish her from Cunard White Star's liners, the company decided to give her a different colour scheme. Instead of going for the usual all-white cruiseship look, Caronia received a unique livery in different shades of green, making her highly attractive and instantly recognisable. Another striking feature of the ship was her funnel, one of the largest ever installed aboard a ship. Like those of the later SS United States
SS United States
SS United States is a luxury passenger liner built in 1952 for the United States Lines designed to capture the trans-Atlantic speed record....
, the funnel easily caught the wind, making the ship somewhat difficult to handle.
1949-1959: A ship ahead of her time
The brand new RMS Caronia made her maiden voyage on 4 January 1949 between Southampton and New York. Two more transatlantic crossings followed before the ship embarked on her first cruises from New York to the CaribbeanCaribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
. During her first years she spent most the year doing transatlantic crossings; only during the winter months was she engaged in cruising. In 1951 she made her first world cruise. From 1952 onwards she made transatlantic crossings only in August and September, with the rest of the year dedicated to cruising. In May 1953 the Caronia made what was perhaps her most famous cruise, associated with the coronation ceremony of Queen Elizabeth II (who had christened the Caronia six years earlier). The ship was used as a hotel, as most of the accommodation in the UK was fully booked.
Her annual refit in November 1956 saw Caronia modernized for southern cruising with air-conditioning outfitted through the entire ship. Her world cruise of 1958 saw her suffer the most serious accident of her career. Sailing slowly out of Yokohama
Yokohama
is the capital city of Kanagawa Prefecture and the second largest city in Japan by population after Tokyo and most populous municipality of Japan. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu...
harbour to avoid collision with a U.S. Naval vessel, high winds drove her against the harbour's breakwater, causing serious damage to her bow and demolishing a harbor lighthouse in the process. Fortunately the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
allowed Cunard to use their drydock at the Yokosuka yard for repairs to the Caronia. That same year Caronias autumn cruise in the Mediterranean had to be cancelled due to political tensions in the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
.
1959-1967: Competition catches up
1959 saw Caronia making regular transatlantic crossings for the last time. Competition from the jet airliner meant there weren't enough passengers for her in the North Atlantic trade. From here her transatlantic crossings were repositioning voyages. The first each year being a Sterling Cruise, so called because all other Caronia cruises were paid for only in US Dollars, and taking a southerly route via the Bahamas instead of the usual direct route. Decreased passenger numbers in the North Atlantic also meant that more of Cunard's liners were rebuilt into cruise use and received a similar green colour scheme to that of the Caronia, which in 1962 were established as the line's official cruise colours when RMS Mauretania was rebuilt for cruising. In 1963 RMS FranconiaRMS Ivernia
' was a Saxonia class ocean liner, built in 1955 by John Brown & Company in Clydebank, Scotland for Cunard Line, for their transatlantic passenger service between the UK and Canada. In 1963 she was rebuilt as a cruise ship and renamed RMS Franconia, after the famous pre-war liner RMS Franconia...
and RMS Carmania followed. By this time the Caronia's itineraries had settled into a yearly pattern, each cruise having found its ideal individual place in the calendar.
By the early 1960s other shipping companies were catching up with Cunard and building their own purpose-built cruiseships, which in addition to being better equipped than the Caronia were better suited for cruising than she had ever been. To keep up with her newer competitors, Cunard decided that in November 1965 Caronia would be drydocked for ten weeks, new suites and a lido deck built, and her interior brought up to date. 1966 brought with it a seamen's strike in Britain, which upset the Caronia's itineraries badly. As a result of climbing operating costs, 1967 was the first year when the Caronia didn't profit her owners. Due to increased competition, Cunard decided to withdraw her from service at the end of the year. Fittingly, Caronia's last voyage for Cunard was a transatlantic crossing from New York to Southampton.
1968-1974: Final Years
Panama
Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...
interests. Renamed SS Columbia, she sailed to Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
for refitting. Cunard had allowed Caronia to fall behind her maintenance schedule, and her engines needed a major overhaul. Replacement parts were ordered from a Greek company rather than from the original manufacturer. Whilst she was being rebuilt Andrew Konstaninidis took control of Cabria, buying out the other owners of Star Line and renaming her the SS Caribia. Her refitting was completed and she was given a new all-white colour scheme. February 1969 saw the Caribia embark on her first cruise from New York to the Caribbean. The voyage was hindered by a malfunction in her waste system. Things turned for the worse on her second cruise, when an explosion in the engine room resulted in the death of one crew member and the severe scalding of another. In addition the ship lost all electrical power for twenty hours before repairs allowed her to return to port. The incident undermined public confidence in the vessel. The Caribia limped back to New York, never to make a commercial voyage again.
Plans to revive the Caribia were considered for the next five years, but she remained docked in New York and her berthing debts continued to accumulate. Finally in 1974 her owners gave in and sold the once great ship for scrap. German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
ocean tug Hamburg was entrusted with the task of towing the Caribia to a breaker's yard in Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
. Whilst near Honolulu the ship was in danger of capsizing; but repairs were made and they continued on. The two ships sailed into a bad storm near Guam
Guam
Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...
. The Hamburg's generators failed and her crew were forced to cut the Caribia loose to save their own vessel. The storm's winds drove the lifeless ship against Apra Harbour's breakwater, where she was wrecked.
Being a danger to local shipping, the wrecked Caribia was swiftly cut up. Her life ended just 25 years after she was commissioned. Despite being probably the most forward-looking ship of her time, she was in active service for only 19 years.
External links
- RMS Caronia Timeline (dedicated Caronia Website)
- Caronia Main Page on Bytenet
- Caronia (II) on Chris' Cunard Page