RMS Empress of Britain (ship, 1956)
 As The Topaz in Kobe, 2006
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The RMS Empress of Britain (III) was a passenger ship that was built in 1956 for the Canadian shipping company Canadian Pacific Steamships . It was the third ship of this shipping company to carry the name Empress of Britain . The ship remained in service until 2008 and was most recently one of the longest-serving active passenger ships in the world.
period of service
Empress of Britain
The Empress of Britain was built at Fairfield Shipbuilding in Govan . The ship was launched on June 22, 1955. Godmother was Queen Elizabeth II. Eleven months later, the new ship was put into service on April 20, 1956 on the route from Liverpool to Montreal . At the beginning of the 1960s, however, this liner service began to become unprofitable , which is why the ship was decommissioned in 1964 and offered for sale.
Queen Anna Maria
In November 1964, the Empress of Britain was sold to the Greek Greek Line and converted. Among other things, a pool was installed at the stern of the ship. In 1965 the ship was put into service as Queen Anna Maria on the route from Haifa to New York . The ship remained on this route for ten years until the Greek Line had to file for bankruptcy in 1975 and was dissolved. The Queen Anna Maria was launched shortly afterwards in Piraeus .
Carnivale
In 1976 the ship was sold to the still young cruise line Carnival Cruise Lines and renamed Carnivale . The former Empress of Canada , which was also built for Canadian Pacific Steamships and was now called Mardi Gras , was also part of the Carnival Cruises fleet . Both ships have been used successfully for cruises in the Caribbean . In 1993 the Carnivale was retired after Carnival Cruises had modernized its fleet with new buildings.
Fiesta Marina
The ship was chartered out as Fiesta Marina to Fiesta Marina Cruises , which was founded especially for them and which also belonged to Carnival Cruises. In October 1993 the ship set out on its first cruise. The new shipping company was marketed exclusively in South America . However, this was unsuccessful, which is why Fiesta Marina Cruises was dissolved again after just eleven months in September 1994. The Fiesta Marina was put up for sale again.
Olympic
In the same year the ship found a new buyer in the Greek Epirotiki Lines . The ship was renamed Olympic and used for cruises in the Mediterranean for two years . In 1996 the ship was chartered to Royal Olympic Cruises , who continued to use it for Mediterranean cruises. After a year in service for Royal Olympic, the ship was sold in 1997.
Topaz
In 1997 the ship was bought by Thomson Cruises and continued to operate as Topaz for cruises in the Mediterranean. In 2003 Thomson sold the ship to the Peace Boat charity , which changed its name to The Topaz . After five years in service, Peace Boat was looking for a new buyer for the ship, which is now over 50 years old and one of the oldest active passenger ships in the world. In 2007, Peace Boat chartered the Clipper Pearl, a more modern ship that was better suited to the organization's tasks. Although The Topaz was in very good condition, no buyer could be found for the ship. The Topaz was finally decommissioned in April 2008 and sold for scrapping in Alang , India , where it arrived in late summer 2008.
The sister ship
The sister ship of the Empress of Britain , the Empress of England had a much shorter period of service than her sister ship. Commissioned in 1957, the ship was sold to the Shaw, Savill & Albion Steamship Company in 1970 , who renamed it Ocean Monarch . In 1975 the ship was finally decommissioned and scrapped after only 18 years of service in Kaohsiung .
Web links
- History of the ship on liverpoolships.org
- The ship on faktaomfartyg (Swedish)
- Photographs of the ship on shipspotting.com
Footnotes
- ↑ The three Empress of Britain's on ssmaritime. Retrieved August 19, 2015 .
- ↑ The ship on midshipcentury.com. Retrieved August 19, 2015 .