http://www.shipsmonthly.com • Summer 2018 • (^63)
READERS’ PAGES
Ten pound memories
I was a child in Fremantle, Western
Australia during the late 1950s into
the 1960s, and the names of the
ships in the excellent article The Ten
Pound Fare by Geoff Lunn (SM, June)
brought back a nostalgic distant
memory of seeing most of the ships
mentioned at Fremantle. There is one
piece of information in the article
that is incorrect, however, and it has
appeared previously in several books
and articles on the line voyages to
Australia of this period.
The statement that Oriana and
Canberra sailed from Southampton
to Sydney in three weeks is incorrect
by five days. The sailing schedules
for both ships, at their 27.5-knot
service speed, had their first landfall
in Australia (Fremantle) reached in
20 days and Sydney in 26 days. I
guess that to some people Sydney
is Australia, and the three weeks on
the ships would have been taken as
arrival in Sydney, even though it is on
the other side of the country and was
about six days away if travelling on
the two mentioned ships.
Don Finlayson
East Fremantle
Tracing old crew
I am trying to trace Geoff Davis, a
former crewman who sailed with
John Harker and came from Weston-
super-Mare. At some point he also
crewed with the late Gord Hyam,
who was a friend of mine and one of
my skippers in Bowker and King. My
wife and I are still very good friends
with Gord’s widow Marie, and it was
she who asked me if I knew what had
happened to Geoff. I would be very
grateful for any help with this.
Tony Green
Newport, Berkeley, Gloucs
scotland’s capital
With reference to your article Capital
Ships Progress (SM, June, p.15), I
would like to point out that Glasgow
is not the capital of Scotland. The
capital city of Scotland is Edinburgh.
I am sure that I will not be alone in
pointing this out, although my wife,
born on Clydeside, often states that
Might I add a few observations on
Stephen Payne’s admirable article
(SM, June)on Dunnottar Castle,
subsequently Victoria, and a few
other ship?. In fact Dunnottar Castle
and Dunvegan Castle made their
first two voyages on the West Coast
Intermediate run to Beira, between July
and December 1936, prior to joining
the Royal Mail service in December
1936 and February 1937 respectively.
Dunvegan Castle was transferred
to the Round Africa service in May
1938 once Carnarvon Castle had
returned to service. Dunnottar Castle
remained on the Royal Mail service
until October 1938, transferring
to the West Coast Intermediate
Service in November 1938, which she
operated with the new Durban and
Pretoria Castles. Dunnottar Castle’s
first Round Africa service voyage was
in February and March 1949.
As refitted in 1948, Dunnottar
Castle catered for 207 First and
236 Tourist class passengers. I am
uncertain as to when the First class
accommodation was reduced to 105,
probably about 1955, but according
to an August 1951 Passenger List,
which included me and my parents,
there were at least 180 First class
passengers, and a full Tourist class.
The original nine-cylinder engines
were an H&W experiment and
proved less than satisfactory. At one
point after the War, Dunnottar Castle
was reduced to crawling round the
Mediterranean (the MEDLOC run) at
little more 15 knots, which was about
as fast as she could manage.
In 1997 I was privileged to visit
her in Harwich, look her over and
have lunch aboard. I was surprised
how much was unchanged from my
voyage as an 11-year-old in 1951.
The former First Class Dining Saloon
on B Deck was almost unaltered.
More surprising still was that the
wheelhouse, and wheel, were exactly
as built, complete with the bridge
manoeuvring speed cards, showing
a maximum of 14 knots. In October
1997, now named Princesa Victoria,
she rescued passengers from the
cruise ship Romantica (1939/7,583grt),
which caught fire cruising off Cyprus.
Alan S. Mallett, Coltishall
Glasgow has much better facilities,
such as concert halls and art galleries.
I fervently hope that the UK
Government will build enough City
class frigates so that one can be
named HMS Edinburgh, as well as
the new HMS Glasgow. But I am not
holding my breath.
A. J. Slatter
Reigate, Surrey
I am certain I will not be the only reader
to point out that Glasgow, a name
chosen for the new Type 26 Frigates,
is not one of the home nation’s capital
cities. For Scotland read Edinburgh –
Glasgow can only dream.
Peter Sommerville
Greenock
Raasay built on Clyde
Ferry News (SM, Apr) records the
retirement of Cal Mac’s Island class
ferry Raasay. However, she was not
built by Ferguson, but, like her five
sisters, came from the now defunct
James Lamont & Sons yard, also of
Port Glasgow. Sister vessel Eigg has
also been retired, and both have been
sold for further service in Ireland.
Walter McCormick
Basingstoke
Gordon Law and Stuart Craig of the Clyde River Steamer Club joined Cal
Mac’s small vessel superintendent, Jonathan Davies, when Raasay left the fleet.
some memories of Dunnottar Castle and later as Victoria
nandana
(Nandana)
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