Famous ships that called at the Cape – John H Marsh Maritime Collection

An epic cruise would set you back R2054 Caronia set the stage for round-the-world cruising VIEWED AS a milestone of significance in terms of classic maritime creation, the Caronia was the first post-war luxury cruise liner to offer round-the-world trips for the wealthy sea-going public of the time. Launched in 1948 by then Princess Elizabeth at Clydebank, Scotland, and built by John Brown & Co shipbuilders for Cunard, she served a dual role for trans-Atlantic crossings and for specialised cruising. She was admired for her modern and dignified lines, high sided for trans-Atlantic voyages with a large dominant funnel in Cunard’s striking colours. The entire ship was covered in three shades of light green which gave rise to her enduring familiar name of ‘The Green Goddess’ amongst the travelling elite. Caronia entered service in January 1949, designed to carry 528 First Class and 332 Tourist Class passengers, and just one year later in 1950 she made her first call at Cape Town as recorded by John Marsh above. Thereafter she became a fairly regular annual visitor. Her steam-geared turbine engines gave her a service speed of 22 knots, considered notable for the times. Some doubts arose though as the number of crew exceeded the number of passengers on cruises. A typical around the world itinerary in 1964 would take her on a 31 415 mile voyage starting from New York to Port Everglades, then to Trinidad in the Caribbean, steaming along the east coast of South America for Rio de Janeiro, and then across to Cape Town. After calling at Durban she went on to Tamatave, Madagascar, across the Indian Ocean for Port Louis, north for Port Victoria. Bombay and Colombo were next, followed by Singapore and Bangkok. Then to Kobe and Yokohama, Japan. She steamed on east to Honolulu and Long Beach, after which she turned south to Acapulco in Mexico and Balboa in the Panama Canal zone. After Cristobal at the eastern end of the canal, she plied northwards to New York to end the cruise. The minimum rate for such an epic cruise was the princely sum of R2054. But with fuel prices and portage bills rocketing in the 1960s and a history of difficulties with her turbine gearing, she was sold in 1968 to the Franchard Corp of New York. Under her new name Caribia, this once famous ship was wrecked and broken into three at the entrance to Apra harbour on the Pacific island of Guam. Heavy seas while she was under tow from New York to Kaohsiung for demolition caused her to drift helplessly, striking the breakwater at Apra. The memory of the great Caronia lives on in history and will always be a feature of the beginnings of cruising as we know it today.