American Steamship History |

AUSTRALIAN Coastal Cruises aboard the MV MOONTA…

The advertisement for the Adelaide Steamship Company’s popular Gulf Trip features the MV Moonta which operated from 1931 to 1955.

The Gulf Trip was one of the most popular South Australian holiday tours for fifty years.

Moonta is the best remembered of the several ships which operated on the Gulf Trip, which in addition to passengers, carried cargo.

The ship visited Port Lincoln, Whyalla, Port Augusta and Port Pirie, leaving Port Adelaide on Saturday and returning on Friday morning. Tours would be arranged in each of the towns in addition to the relaxation and entertainment offered on board ship. Good meals and service, comfortable accommodation, deck games, swimming pool and fancy dress dances provided all the ingredients for a romantic holiday. Life partners were met, honeymoons taken and anniversaries celebrated aboard the Moonta and her sister ships Rupara and Paringa.

The Moonta was built by Burmeister & Wain of Copenhagen in Denmark in 1931. She arrived in Adelaide in November of that year and made her last run of the Gulf Trip in January 1955. At 2,693 tons gross, Moonta carried 150 passengers was 288 feet long and had a cruising speed of 12.5 knots.

Video of the MV MOONTA as the Casino Le Lydia – very interesting view of the ship during a pop concert…

THE MUCH LOVED MV MOONTA

By Reuben Goossens – be sure to visit his excellent website at: ssmaritime.com

The much loved Australian coastal passenger cargo liner, MV Moonta was built in 1931 by Burmeister & Wain shipyard in Copenhagen Denmark for the Adelaide Steamship Company.

She was known for her comfortable accommodations and public rooms and she accommodated 150 passengers.

The ship featured three lounges that included the Social Hall, Smoke Room and the ever popular Wintergarden.

In addition there was the walk around promenade deck and a spacious sports deck above…

Click here to read more at ssmaritime.com:

S.S. GREAT EASTERN

S.S. Great Eastern, a 22,500-ton (displacement) iron steamship designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel was built on the Thames River, England.

Intended for the passenger and cargo trade between England and Ceylon, she was by far the largest ship the World had yet seen.

She was so far ahead of contemporary commercial requirements, and industrial capabilities, that her length (nearly 700 feet) and tonnage would remain unmatched for four more decades.

Though christened Leviathan during an initial launching attempt in early November 1857, she was thereafter always known as Great Eastern. Nearly three month’s costly struggle to get her afloat, and more problems while she was completing, left her original company bankrupt. New owners decided to employ her on the route between Britain and North America. However, insufficient capitalization restricted outfitting to luxury accomodations, thus ignoring the decidedly non-luxurious, but very profitable immigrant trade. The ship financial difficulties continued compounded by a series of accidents.