Capetown Castle
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The Capetown Castle was a passenger ship put into service in 1938 , which was used for the British shipping company Union-Castle Line in passenger and mail traffic between Great Britain and South Africa . She was the largest ship on the Union-Castle Line built before World War II and remained in service until 1967.
history
The motor ship Capetown Castle was built by Harland & Wolff in Belfast , Northern Ireland , and was launched on September 23, 1937. The ship was 214.24 meters long and 25.15 meters wide and had a chimney, two masts and two propellers . With 27,002 gross registered tonnes (GRT), she was the largest ship on the Union-Castle Line to date. It was only after the Second World War that the shipping company put even larger ships into service.
The outer design of the Capetown Castle was similar to its two predecessor ships, the Athlone Castle and the Stirling Castle (both 1936). What was new, however, was that its lower promenade deck was glazed to protect passengers from bad weather. The Capetown Castle was powered by two diesel engines from the Danish machine manufacturer Burmeister & Wain , which developed 4650 hp and could accelerate the ship up to 19.5 knots. The passenger accommodations were designed for 292 first class passengers and 499 cabin class.
On March 31, 1938, the Capetown Castle was completed, and on May 13, 1938, at the end of her maiden voyage , she entered Cape Town for the first time . After only two and a half years in the South African passenger service, she was drafted for military service on November 26, 1940. She served as a troop transport and drove among others in WS convoys . On July 29, 1946, she was returned to the Union-Castle Line after six years. During this time the ship had carried 164,000 soldiers. After being made afloat again in Belfast, the Capetown Castle resumed its passenger service on the South African route in January 1947. After the new arrangement of the cabins, there was space on the ship for 244 first class passengers and 553 cabin class. In 1957 the cabin class was renamed the tourist class.
When the Capetown Castle arrived in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria at around 5:30 in the morning on October 17, 1960 and Captain William S. Byles gave the command " Engines back", the control valve of the starboard engine stuck in the engine room. This allowed the heated oil to shoot through the opening, killing six machinists. The engine room was then sealed. Passengers and crew were disembarked. In addition to their own lifeboats , the boats of Windsor Castle were used, which at the time was bunkering coal in the port of Las Palmas. In the following weeks repairs were carried out in Las Palmas until the Capetown Castle set off for Southampton accompanied by a tug .
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On May 10, 1966, another accident occurred when the Capetown Castle ran aground on the banks of Vlissingen . However, it came free with the next flood. On August 23, 1967, the almost 30-year-old ship sailed for the last time in Cape Town for Great Britain. On September 26, 1967, the Capetown Castle arrived in La Spezia (Italy), where it was scrapped shortly afterwards.