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SS ORONSAY ship
SS Oronsay was the second Orient Line ship built after
World War II. A sister ship to Orcades, she was named
after the island of Oronsay off the west coast of
Scotland.
The liner
was completed in 1951 at Vickers-Armstrong,
Barrow-in-Furness, The Oronsay operated the UK to
Australasia service, via the Suez Canal. Her
accommodation set new standards, in both first and
tourist class, with decor by Brian O'Rourke.
On 1
January 1954, Oronsay left Sydney on the first Orient
Line transpacific voyage to Auckland, Suva, Honolulu,
Victoria, Vancouver and San Francisco, returning via the
same ports.
In 1960
the Orient Line and P&O fleets were merged under the
control of P&O-Orient Lines Ltd. Oronsay continued to
operate under the Orient houseflag and retained her
corn-colored hull until 1964, when her hull was painted
P&O white.
Liner
services were producing dwindling returns as jet
airliner services between Europe and Australia expanded
and Oronsay spent more and more time as a cruise ship.
The large rises in the oil price in 1973 were the final
straw and Oronsay was withdrawn from service. On 7
October 1975 she arrived at Kaohsiung to be broken up by
the Nan Feng Steel Enterprise Co.
Oronsay was one of the ships seen in the 1958 British
comedy film The Captain's Table. Stock footage of all
three post war Orient ships was used to depict the
fictional SS Queen Adelaide and some scenes were shot on
board at Tilbury Docks. Orient ships were also seen in
stock footage in the 1962 British comedy film Carry On
Cruising, in which Oronsay depicted the cruise ship SS
Happy Wanderer.
The ship
is also the primary setting of the novel The Cat's Table
(2011) by Michael Ondaatje. The novel tells the story of
a boy's three week trip on the Oronsay.
Life
aboard the Oronsay and the work of Captain R.W. Roberts
are depicted in the The Last Voyage (1962).
Learn more about the Oronsay here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Oronsay_(1950)
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