Transvaal Castle (ship)
 As a festival in Barbados, 1987
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The Transvaal Castle was a passenger ship that was built in 1961 for the British Union-Castle Line . The Transvaal Castle was the last passenger ship from Union-Castle in service. In 1977 it was converted into a cruise ship and remained in service as such until September 2000. After three years of lay-in, the ship was scrapped in India in 2003 .
Planning and construction
The Transvaal Castle was one of three new ships that were planned from the end of the 1950s. They were intended to replace the now obsolete ships in the fleet that came from the prewar period. The first of these ships was the Pendennis Castle in 1959 . 1960 the sister ship of the Transvaal Castle , the Windsor Castle was put into service. In December 1961, the Transvaal Castle was finally delivered to Union-Castle, which was built by John Brown & Company in Clydebank . While the Pendennis Castle was still a modernized and enlarged version of the pre-war ships of Union Castle, the other two units were new developments.
The ship, built for service to South Africa, was launched on January 17, 1961 and, like its sister ship, was fully air-conditioned. It was also unusual that the Transvaal Castle only had one class. Union-Castle wanted to convey the feeling of a floating hotel without class separation. This had previously been successfully tested on several of the shipping company's smaller ships in the early 1950s. Originally, this should also be used on the two other ships of the series, but this was not carried out.
period of service
Union-Castle Line
On January 18, 1962, the Transvaal Castle started on her maiden voyage from Southampton to Durban , which went without incident. The ship remained in service on this route from 1965 to 1966, except for a minor change to the route. Then the ship was sold to Safmarine together with the Pretoria Castle . Thus the Union-Castle Line sold both its newest and its oldest ship.
Safmarine
On January 12, 1966, the ship, renamed SA Castle , began service for its new shipping company. Nevertheless, the ship remained registered in London . The route and a large part of the crew were also left as they were. In 1969 the ship was registered in Cape Town , although the operation of the ship was still controlled from London. The mostly British crew up to then has also been replaced. In the early 1970s, the ship made losses, which got worse after the 1973 oil crisis . After the retirement of Pendennis Castle in June 1976, the SA Castle and her sister ship Windsor Castle , which continued to sail for Union Castle , remained the last large passenger ships in service to Durban. In October 1977, the two sister ships were finally decommissioned. The SA Castle finished its last voyage on October 10, 1977 in Southampton.
Carnival Cruise Lines
The SA Castle was bought by the still young shipping company Carnival Cruise Lines and renamed Festivale . The ship was then converted into a cruise ship in Japan for $ 30 million . Among other things, the cargo holds of the ship were converted into additional cabins or public areas. Initially, the Festivale was Carnival Cruises' flagship, but as larger and more modern ships came into service in the 1980s, passenger numbers fell. In the mid-1990s, the outdated ship no longer fit into the concept of the shipping company, which had mainly specialized in newer ships. In 1996 the festival was therefore decommissioned.
Dolphin Cruise Line
The ship was sold a little later to the Dolphin Cruise Line and renamed IslandBreeze . The Dolphin Cruise Line specialized in older cruise ships from the 1950s and 1960s. The IslandBreeze was the shipping company's largest ship. However, after only two years in service, the ship was sold again.
Premier Cruises
In 1998 the ship was sold to Premier Cruises . In 2000 the ship was modernized and renamed Big Red Boat III . It also got the red hull typical of the shipping company. The ship was mainly used for shorter cruises in the Caribbean. After Premier Cruises went bankrupt in September 2000, the ship was launched in Freeport, where it was moored next to Rembrandt , who also belonged to Premier Cruises . The ship was offered for sale to other shipping companies. However, the ship was too old for most of the interested parties. In addition, there was machine damage that should have been repaired.
scrapping
In 2003 the meanwhile run-down ship was sold for scrapping in Alang , India . It was renamed The Big Boat for its final voyage and arrived in Alang on July 3, 2003. The scrapping was completed in 2004.
literature
- James Kerr: Carnival Cruise Lines Festivale . In: Cruise Travel . Volume 6, No. 6 . Lakeside Publishing Company, Evanston June 1985, pp. 34 to 39 .
Web links
- Postcards of the ship under its various owners on simplonpc.co.uk (English)
- The ship on cruise-ships.com (English)
- The ship on clydesite.com (English)
- T / S Transvaal Castle
Footnotes
- ↑ The last ships of the Union-Castle Line. Retrieved August 11, 2015 .
- ↑ The ship on midshipcentury.com. Retrieved August 11, 2015 .