R.M.S. Orcades (1949)
Postcard From The Past: R.M.S. Orcades (1949) #
Orient Line official passenger postcard of R.M.S. Orcades (28,000 tons), posted at Port Said in September 1949. Postcard in the Vintage Buses Collection. - Click image to enlarge
Video created by X-MarcosNavigator Music #
History #
- 1945 to 1947: Ordered post WWII by the Orient Steam Navigation Company (Orient Line) as Yard No. 950 at the Vickers-Armstrongs shipyard in Barrow-in-Furness.
- 14 October 1947: The R.M.S. Orcade was launched.
- 14 November 1948: Completed and delivered to Orient Line as the company’s new 28,164 GRT flagship, costing £3,418,000 to build.
- 14 December 1948: Departed Tilbury on her maiden voyage to Australia and New Zealand via Gibraltar, Naples, Port Said, Aden, Colombo, Fremantle, Adelaide, Melbourne, and Sydney.
- 7 May 1952: Ran aground in Port Phillip Bay off Rosebud Pier, Victoria, Australia, but was successfully refloated without structural damage.
- November 1956: Served as an accommodation ship moored in Melbourne during the 1956 Summer Olympics.
- 1959: Underwent a major refit at Harland & Wolff in Belfast. Air conditioning was extended throughout the ship, and a distinctive “stovepipe” (or “top hat”) soot dispersal top was fitted to her funnel.
- 1960: Transferred under full P&O ownership following P&O’s total takeover of the Orient Line shareholding.
- 1964: Converted into a single class tourist liner and repainted from her traditional “Orient corn” yellow hull to P&O standard white.
- 1960s to 1972: Operated on regular UK to Australia/New Zealand liner runs, transpacific liner services, and seasonal cruises.
- 13 October 1972: R.M.S. Orcade was officially taken out of active passenger service upon her return to the UK and laid up.
- 28 December 1972: The ship departed the UK under a skeleton crew bound for the Far East scrap yards at Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
The name ‘Orcades’ #
- Classical Meaning: Orcades is the classical Latin name for the Orkney Islands off the northern coast of Scotland.
- Orient Line Naming Tradition: The Orient Line had a long-standing tradition of naming its vessels using words starting with the prefix “Or-”. This included ships like Orion, Orontes, Oronsay, and Orsova.
- Lineage: This vessel (launched in 1947) was actually the third Orient Line ship to bear the name. The second Orcades (built in 1937) was tragically torpedoed and sunk while serving as a troopship in World War II, leading the company to reuse the honoured name for their flagship post-war liner.