SAD ORSOVA

This slide of Alec Young's was in a terrible state, so I've invested quite a bit of time in an attempted act of salvage, only partially successfully. It is an image of some historic significance, showing a sadly depleted Orsova coming alongside (ironically at the passenger mailship berth at the old Ocean Terminal on the T-Jetty) on her voyage to the breakers. Weather was awful, and the slide is dreadfully faded, magenta-toned and full of marks, but the scan is better than that. Note the missing lifeboats - more dramatic than on some of the other P&O final voyages. You also see interesting details when blowing up the image to remove scratches and spotted dogs with PhotoShop - the crest on the bow presumably shows the "Iron Gate" on the Danube, after which the vessel was named, or at least that's my understanding. - Trevor Jones, Durban.

Comment by Luís Miguel Correia: This is indeed a sad view as ORSOVA was still full of life in early 1974 when her engines were stopped forever, but her sacrifice translated into a rescue to previously doomed and much better CANBERRA, and so ORSOVA gave the later ship another 27 years cruising and trooping around and this was a very brave sacrifice. The ORSOVA was taken out of cruise service by P&O on 25 November 1973 and sailed on her final delivery voyage from Southampton to Kaoshiung, Taiwan, on 20 December arriving at the scrap yard on 14 February 1974 after a call at Durban for bunkers, exactly when this image was registered.

Texto e imagens /Text and images copyright L.M.Correia. Favor não piratear. Respeite o meu trabalho / No piracy, please. For other posts and images, check our archive at the right column of the main page. Click on the photos to see them enlarged. Thanks for your visit and comments. Luís Miguel Correia