SS Arcadia was a passenger liner

Ocean liner

An ocean liner is a ship designed to transport people from one seaport to another along regular long-distance maritime routes according to a schedule. Liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes .Cargo vessels running to a schedule are sometimes referred to as...

 built for P&O

Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company

The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, which is usually known as P&O, is a British shipping and logistics company which dated from the early 19th century. Following its sale in March 2006 to Dubai Ports World for £3.9 billion, it became a subsidiary of DP World; however, the P&O...

 in 1954 to service the UK to Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 route. Towards the end of her life she operated as a cruise ship

Cruise ship

A cruise ship or cruise liner is a passenger ship used for pleasure voyages, where the voyage itself and the ship's amenities are part of the experience, as well as the different destinations along the way...

, based in Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

, until scrapped in 1979.

History

The Arcadia was built for P&O by John Brown & Company

John Brown & Company

John Brown and Company of Clydebank was a pre-eminent Scottish marine engineering and shipbuilding firm, responsible for building many notable and world-famous ships, such as the , the , the , the , the , and the...

 at Clydebank

Clydebank

Clydebank is a town in West Dunbartonshire, in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. Situated on the north bank of the River Clyde, Clydebank borders Dumbarton, the town with which it was combined to form West Dunbartonshire, as well as the town of Milngavie in East Dunbartonshire, and the Yoker and...

 in Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

; her keel was laid in 1952 and she was launched on 14 May 1953. Her maiden voyage commenced on 22 February 1954, sailing from the UK to Australia via the Suez Canal

Suez Canal

The Suez Canal , also known by the nickname "The Highway to India", is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Opened in November 1869 after 10 years of construction work, it allows water transportation between Europe and Asia without navigation...

. As the number of passengers travelling by ship to Australia reduced due to the increase in aircraft travel, so P&O was forced to diversify with the deployment of its ships. In 1959, she was refitted (with amongst other things complete airconditioning) and commenced operations on the trans-Pacific route, and from 1965 was placed on part time cruising duties out of Sydney. In 1970 she became a full-time one-class cruiseship. From 1975 until scrapped 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...

 in 1979, her cruising role out of Sydney was full time. She was replaced by P&O's then newly acquired Sea Princess

Mona Lisa (ship)

MV Mona Lisa is a cruise ship that was last owned by Leonardo Shipping and operated under charter by Lord Nelson Seereisen . She was built in 1966 by the John Brown & Company shipyard in Clydebank, Scotland as the combined ocean liner / cruise ship MS Kungsholm for the Swedish American Line. She...

, formerly the Kungsholm.