Titanic History |

AUSTRALIAN Coastal Cruises aboard the MV MOONTA…

March 20, 2012 By Michael L. Grace Leave a Comment

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:

Filed Under: STEAMSHIP LINES Tagged With: 1030s, 1960s stewardess, american steamship history, Anders Wilhelmsen, Arison Shipping Company, australia, australia maritime, AUSTRALIAN COSTAL CRUISES, barbara and jerry heil, bennie thomposn, BERGEN LINE, Bilu, Biscayne Terrace Hotel, Bohème, BROOKE ASTOR, burson marsteller, captain james ferguson, Caribbean cruising, Carnival (CCL), Carnival Corporation, Carnival Cruise Lines, Carnival Cruises, carolyn cheeks kilpatrick, Cassablanca Hotel, charles rangel, Chobol, christopher j. dodd, clarence mitchell, Commodore Cruise Lines, Concordia sinking, costa allegra, costa concordia, COSTA CONCORDIA SINKING, costa cruise, costa cruises, Cruise History, CRUISE LINE HISTORY, cruise ship history, CUNARD LINE, donald payne, donna christensen, Dr Washington Dodge, Ed Stephan, ellis island, EVA PERON, father browne, Fearnley and Egar, Finland, first class, FIRST CLASS MENU TITANIC, first class ocean, frank browne, Gibraltar, Gotass Larsen, GULF CRUISES, GULF TRIP, Harry Larsen, Henry Aldridge & Son’s, Hindenburg, history carnival cruises, history cunard line, History of Cruise Ships, hitler, HOLLAND AMERICA LINE, Howard Berman, Internal Utilities, Ira Riklis, Israel’s War Of Independence, Kirby Sommers, Kloster, Kloster Rederi, Knut Kloster, Lamar S. Smith, Leslie Frazer, Liner History, Love Boat, maritime accidents, maritime disasters, maritime history, maritime matters, maritime passengers, mark perry, mary bono mack, MEGA SHIP DISASTERS, Meshulam Riklis, micky arison, MV MOONTA, Mv princess Victoria, ncl, new zealand, Nili, Nordic Prince, normandie ship, Norwegian Caribbean Lines, Norwegian Epic, oasis of the seas death trap, ocean liner disasters, ocean liners, Olaf Wallenis, P&O cruise lines, passenger liners, passenger steamships, photos titanic, pictures of the titanic, Pier luigi foschi, PRINCESS CRUISES, radio city music hall, RCCL, rep charles rangel carnival corp, retro, RMS TITANIC, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, Royal Caribbean International, Royal Caribbean International’s, Royal Carribbean International, Royal Viking Line, Royal Viking Sea, Royal Viking Sky, Royal Viking Star, RUTH DODGE TITANIC, Sandy Chonol, Seabourn Cruise Lines, seabourn cruises, Seattle, sex, Shari Arison, ship disasters, ship geek, ship sinking, Si?or Skau?en, Skald Club, Skyward, SOCIAL HISTORY, society, Song of Norway, sopa, Southward, Space Needle, SS awatea, ss Canberra, ss champlain, ss morro castle, ss united states, Starward, steamship history, STEAMSHIP LINES A?da, Sun Viking, Sunward, T.S.S. Awatea, tasman sea, Ted Arison, the titanic, Thomas J. Donohue, Titanic, titanic cruise line, titanic history, titanic pictures, titanic ship, titanic sinking, Travel Weekly, union steam ship company, WASHINGTON DODGE JR TITANIC, white bear lake, Yarmouth, Yarmouth Castle, Yarmouth Cruise Lines 1, yvette clarke

COSTA CONCORDIA DISASTER: Bell Disappears From Shipwreck Site. The RMS TITANIC’S Bell Was Saved.

March 16, 2012 By Michael L. Grace Leave a Comment

Underwater thieves have evaded an array of laser systems that measure millimetric shifts in the Carnival Corp’s Costa Concordia shipwreck and 24-hour surveillance by the Italian coast guard and police to haul off a symbolic booty – the ship’s bell. The giant cruise liner capsized off the Tuscan island of Giglio after hitting a rock on January 13, killing at least 25 people. Seven people are still unaccounted for.

(Left: The bell from the crow’s nest was rung moments before the RMS Tittanic struck an iceberg.) The bell from the RMS Titanic was saved.

Prosecutors have accused Captain Francesco Schettino of causing the accident by bringing the multi-storey Costa Concordia, which was carrying more than 4,200 passengers and crew, too close to the shore.

Now prosecutors have opened an investigation to find out who filched the modern-day Titanic’s bell.

Judicial sources said on Thursday thieves nabbed the ship’s bell more than two weeks ago from one of the decks of the Costa Concordia, which is submerged in 8 meters (26 feet) of water.

Investigators suspect more than one person was involved in stealing the heavy bell, etched with the ship’s name and 2006, the year it was christened. Ships bells were traditionally used to signal half-hour intervals in a four-hour watch.

“I can only guess that someone took it as a sort of morbid memento,” Giglio’s mayor, Sergio Ortelli, told Reuters.

“In my mind, the missing bell is of no importance. We have the ship’s statue of the Madonna in our church, and that for us has much more symbolic meaning.”

Divers recovered the meter-tall plaster statue of the Madonna in January from the ship’s chapel and gave the statute to the parish priest of Giglio.

Filed Under: Cruise History, Cruise Memorabilia, SOCIAL HISTORY, STEAMSHIP LINES Tagged With: 1960s stewardess, carnival corp, costa concordia, Costa Concordia Bell, Costa Concordia Disaster, Costa Concordia Site, Costa Concordia Sunk, Costa Concordia Tragedy, Crime News, ellis island, EVA PERON, Grave Robbers, Grave Robbing, Hindenburg, History of Cruise Ships, Italian Cruise Ship, Italian Cruise Ship Bell, Italian Cruise Ship Sunk, ITALY, normandie ship, Norwegian Epic, pictures of the titanic, radio city music hall, Reuters, RMS TITANIC, Rome, Rome-Italy, ss Canberra, ss united states, the titanic, Titanic, titanic cruise line, titanic history, titanic pictures, titanic ship, titanic sinking

MENU OF FINAL LUNCH ON RMS TITANIC TO SELL FOR $150,000 AT AUCTION.

March 1, 2012 By Michael L. Grace Leave a Comment

(Left: Dr. Dodge, Mrs. Dodge and Master Dodge)

Liner and Social History: The RMS TITANIC menu was on the table of first-class passenger Dr Washington Dodge, a prominent banker from San Francisco, who was traveling to America with his wife, Ruth, and son, Washington Junior.

A menu, dated April 14 1912, shows the luxury food offered up to first-class passengers on the last day on board the stricken ship.

Over several courses, and with 40 options on offer, the cream of Edwardian society were served a choice of such dishes as eggs Argenteuil, consomme fermier, chicken a la Maryland, galantine of chicken or grilled mutton chops.

Titanic Letter Return Sought By John Edward Simpson Relatives After Auction

February 27, 2012 By Michael L. Grace Leave a Comment

Ocean Liner and Cruise History

The descendants of a surgeon who died on the Titanic nearly 100 years ago are appealing for a benefactor to purchase a soon-to-be-auctioned letter he wrote from the doomed ship — and to return it to the city where the vessel was built.

A two-page note John Edward Simpson wrote to his mother days before the ship sank in April 1912 is to expected to fetch at least $50,000 at the auction later this week in Long Island, New York.

Simpson’s great-nephew John Martin said Sunday that the family can’t afford to buy it, but would love to see it back in Belfast.

Carnival Corp’s COSTA CONCORDIA Ship Accident Stirs Thoughts of the ITIALIAN LINE’S ANDREA DORIA.

January 22, 2012 By Michael L. Grace Leave a Comment

Excellent Video on the ANDREA DORIA.

Cruise and Liner History – Carnival Corp’s COSTA CONCORDIA Ship Accident Stirs Thoughts of the ITIALIAN LINE’S ANDREA DORIA.

The world was shocked and astounded to learn of the wreck of the Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia off the Tuscan coast. How could a modern, state-of-the-art passenger vessel have succumbed to such a gross navigational error in well-charted waters, in clear visibility and calm conditions?

Details of the events leading up to the grounding are only starting to be gathered by investigators but seem to point toward inappropriate ship handling on the part of Capt. Francesco Schettino. Far more disturbing, however, are the alleged actions of Schettino after his ship was stricken and determined to be sinking. He stands accused of abandoning ship before many of the 4,200 passengers and crew, leaving them without his leadership and guidance during a life-and-death evacuation process. If the preliminary reports are even half true, these actions should land him squarely in prison.

RMS TITANIC – Centennial may be last chance for the super rich to visit watery grave.

December 5, 2011 By Michael L. Grace Leave a Comment

Cruise and Liner History: RMS TITANIC – Centennial may be last chance for the super rich to visit watery grave.

Down, down, down you go, for 2 1/2 hours, jammed with two other people in a tiny submersible, all the way to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean — and all for a glimpse, through a 5- or 8-inch porthole, of the ravaged remains of the once-grand ship where the Astors and the Strauses played, dined and, in some cases, died.

The trip is not for the claustrophobic, nor the 99 percent: A two-week cruise that includes one dive, lasting eight to 10 hours, costs $60,000.

But for fans of the Titanic, no price or privation is too great — especially with the 100th anniversary of the sinking coming up on April 15.

“This is the opportunity of a lifetime,” Renata Rojas, a banker in New York City, said of diving more than 2 miles down to the muddy seabed. “I’ve been obsessed with the Titanic since I was 10 years old.”

Only existing film footage of the RMS TITANIC…

Centennial fever

With the centennial in mind, at least 80 people are expected to take the plunge to the wreck, according to the company that runs the trips, Deep Ocean Expeditions.

Hurricanes Hit The East Coast – 1938 / 1936 / 1933

August 28, 2011 By Michael L. Grace Leave a Comment

Cruise, Travel and Social History: Hurricanes Hit The East Coast – 1938 / 1936 / 1933

Carnival Triumph sailing around Hurricane Isabel

Picture taken from U.S. Coast Guard helicopter – 17 Sep 2003. From a reader who has sailed on cruise ships in weather like this: There is a big slow push from the floor as the bow rise over a swell, then a slight weightless feeling as the bow drops over the edge, followed by a big shudder that rattles the entire ship as the bow smacks into the bottom of the trough (which seems to be the moment captured in the above picture – keep in mind that ship is 180 feet high above the water and 893 feet in length).

Filed Under: STEAMSHIP LINES Tagged With: Carnival Cruises hurricanes, Cruise History, Liner History, ships, steamship history, Titanic, titanic history

SS EVITA PERON

May 14, 2011 By Michael L. Grace Leave a Comment

Cruise Line History: DOES MADONNA KNOW THAT EVITA (EVA PERON) HAD TWO CRUISE SHIPS NAMED AFTER HER? The Argentine liners were called the SS EVITA and the SS EVA PERON. They were similar in design to the SS JUAN PERON. The ships ran from Argentina (South America) to Europe and the USA.

Three views of the SS EVA PERON (later renamed the SS URUGUAY). Cia Argentian de Nav Dodero’s EVA PERON was launched in 1949. Named in honor of dictator Juan Peron’s wife, the ship was 12,627 GRT, 530 feet in length and 71 feet in width, carrying 96 first class passengers with a crew of 145. The ship was very deluxe and used by a lot of Peron’s cronies. Her maiden voyage was from London to Buenos Aires and later from Hamburg to Buenos Aires. After the fall of the Peron government in 1955 the ship was named the URUGUAY. She was broken up in 1973.

Left: Eva Peron “Mother of Argentina, the SS EVITA and SS EVA PERON”

Argentina was the only South American country to operate long distance intercontinental ocean liners, although always with ships of moderate size and speed.

While ruling Argentina, Eva Peron had dictator Juan Peron, her doting husband, name two-passenger ships after her. The Argentine liners were called the SS EVITA and the SS EVA PERON.

They were similar in design to the SS PRESIDENTE PERON. The ships ran from Argentina (South America) to Europe and the USA.

NEW BRITISH TITANIC TV MINI-SERIES to be filmed…

April 6, 2011 By Michael L. Grace Leave a Comment

RMS TITANIC…

Linus Roache and Geraldine Somerville are to head the cast of the epic TV dramatization of the RMS Titanic story being written by Julian Fellowes.

RMS Titanic running the vessel SS New York off her moorings and almost colliding with her.

Downton Abbey creator Julian is scripting a series to be screened by ITV next year, coinciding with the 100th anniversary of the “unsinkable” ship’s disastrous maiden voyage.

(Left: Picture of the Titanic just before its maiden voyage. Captain Smith can be seen looking over from the bridge.) Linus, who has appeared in US series Law & Order and films such as Batman Begins, recently appeared in Coronation Street alongside his father William Roache (Ken Barlow).

Geraldine is known for her role as Harry Potter’s mother Lily in the young wizard’s adventure films, as well as appearing in BBC1′s Survivors.

The cast for the four-part series also includes Celia Imrie, Toby Jones and Perdita Weeks.

(Titanic lifeboat approaching the Carpthia)

(Titanic lifeboat unloading aboard the Carpathia)

The series begins filming in Hungary later this month, made by Bafta-winning producer Nigel Stafford Clark, whose successes have included Bleak House and Warriors.

Julian – who won an Oscar for his work on Gosford Park – will delve into the “unique perspectives” of the passengers on the celebrated ship which was holed by an iceberg in 1912.

James Cameron’s 1997 film about the ill-fated voyage – starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet – imagined the lives of the ship’s occupants and was one of the most successful movies of all time. It landed 11 Oscars including best director and best film.

The series is expected to be screened around the world.

Stafford Clark said: “There is a lasting fascination with the Titanic’s one and only voyage, and never more so than in the year of its hundredth anniversary.”

Filed Under: Cruise History, Cruise Memorabilia, cruise reviews Tagged With: Cruise History, CRUISE LINER HISTORY, cunard white star line., Liner History, RMS TITANIC, titanic history

Titanic letter sells for a record £55,000

April 22, 2010 By Michael L. Grace Leave a Comment

Titanic History Made Again – A letter from a first-class passenger on board the ill-fated Titanic has been sold at auction for £55,000.

It fetched a record price for a piece of written correspondence from the ship, which sailed from Southampton in April 1912.

The letter, written on three sides of stationery, is penned by Adolphe Saafeld and is addressed to his “wifey”.

The letter in the auction was placed in the mail from Southhampton, England just prior to the ship’s departure on April 10 for its never-completed trans-Atlantic crossing to New York City. It was sold to an unidentified British museum at an auction in Wiltshire.

The letter was written five days before the ship sank on 15 April and gives an insight into life on the maiden voyage of the Titanic.

It was one of 350 lots of White Star Line memorabilia sold on Saturday by Henry Aldridge and Son auctioneers in Devizes, Wiltshire.

Andrew Aldridge, from the auction house, said: “The content is superb.

“It gives a real first-person perspective of what life was like onboard, through the eyes of a first-class passenger, right down to the food, the size of the cabin and the decoration.”

He said it was the best letter of its kind, due to its depth of detail.

In it, Mr Saafeld writes about the smoothness of the journey, and describes eating a “luncheon” of soup, plaice, a loin chop with cauliflower and fried potatoes “washed down with a large Spaten beer iced”.

He also writes about a near-collision with a ship called New York, which was averted by “our stopping & our tugs coming to the rescue of the ‘New York’.”

Also sold at the auction was a set of keys kept by an officer who transferred from the Titanic before it left Southampton, which fetched £54,000.

The keys would have been stored in a box on the ship’s bridge but the officer was moved to another ship at short notice and took the keys with him.

A set of photographs relating to the Titanic, her passengers and crew were sold to various collectors for more than £100,000.

One picture, of Rosa Abbott, who was pulled from the water after the ship sank, fetched £35,000 and was bought by a private collector.

Filed Under: STEAMSHIP LINES Tagged With: CUNARD LINE, Liner History, RMS TITANIC, rms titanic history, titanic history, white star line

Hurricanes Hit The East Coast – 1938 / 1936 / 1933

SS EVITA PERON

NEW BRITISH TITANIC TV MINI-SERIES to be filmed…

Titanic letter sells for a record £55,000

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