QUEEN ANNA MARIA underway

Beautiful image of the QUEEN ANNA MARIA. One of the iconic liner in my youth in Lisbon. Built the same year as myself, and a constant in my life as passenger shipping observer: I remember her Canadian Pacific buff and chequered funnel shinning on the evening sun alongside the Rocha Pax Terminal in 1963, then as QUEEN ANNA MARIA she became part of Lisbon waterfront on her regular transatlantic voyages with OLYMPIA. The news of the collapse of Greek Line and her final dash from NY into lay up in Greece in 1975, at a time when most of those beautiful liners were sent to Kaoshiung on a no return voyage, including her sister OCEAN MONARCH. Her rescue by Ted Arison in late 1975 marked the turn of the tide for this Lady. A long spell of success in the Caribbean as CARNIVALE made me go to Miami in 1989 to photograph the former Empresses. Later she sailed briefly as FIESTA MARINA. Later on I made a cruise on her in the Aegean - she was the magnificent OLYMPIC of Royal Olympic Cruises by then. Her success did continue over the years cruising all over the world as THE TOPAZ until she was sold to be broken up in India in 2008. She operated around the globe for the Japanese Peace Boat organization in the end...

This magnificent underway photograph of QUEEN ANNA MARIA has been sent by my freind Trevor Jones. It is part of his collection of ship photographs.

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

Carreira Lisboa - Nova Iorque

Em 1955 viajava-se de Lisboa para os Estados Unidos nos paquetes das companhias Itália (principalmente os gémeos SATURNIA e VULCANIA) e Greek Line (NEA HELLAS e OLYMPIA), todos com viagens regulares para Nova Iorque e, nalgumas viagens, escalas pelos Açores. Anúncio de saídas da companhia Itália de Julho de 1955.

O Ministro da Marinha queria que Portugal participasse neste tráfego de prestígio e com capacidade para canalizar turistas americanos para Portugal, e chegou a estar prevista a construção de dois paquetes de cerca de 20 000 toneladas, mas infelizmente aideia não vingou. Apesar disto, em 1956 a Companhia Colonial de Navegação prolongou a sua carreira da América Central até à Florida, passando os paquetes SANTA MARIA e VERA CRUZ a visitar regularmente Port Everglades, serviço que se manteve até Abril de 1973. E foi um ero grosseiro retirar o SANTA MARIA, quando podia ter permitido uma entrada de interesses portugueses no mercado de cruzeiros, então emergente, dos EUA e Caraíbas. Foi o que a principal concorrente da Colonial na linha da América Central fez, com o FEDERICO C, mas nós preferimos nada fazer para além de mandar para a sucata um paquete magnífico com menos de 20 anos de serviço. Bastava melhorar um pouco os camarotes e principalmente substituir as turbinas a vapor por motores diesel, como a Costa fez com o CARLA C (em Amesterdão, no mesmo estaleiro que converteu o nosso FUNCHAL) e diversificar as actividades para bem de todos...

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

Greek Line's ARKADIA

Many years ago, this beautiful post card of the Greek Line's TSS ARKADIA was on sale on most tourist shops in Funchal, Madeira Island. I remember well this fine looking passenger liner. She had a smoking mast and was used on a cruise service based in Southampton to the Atlantic Islands and Lisbon. Built in 1931 as the MONARCH OF BERMUDA, she was sold to be broken up in Spain in late 1966.

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

The OLYMPIA at Barbados

The pride of the Greek merchant fleet in the nineteen fifties and one of the most elegant Clyde built liners of the post war era: the Greek Line flagship OLYMPIA berthed at Barbados on Caribbean cruise back in 1966.

I knew very well the OLYMPIA as she was a regular visitor to Lisbon on her transatlantic voyages. In her later Greek years she turned more and more to cruising until laid up in 1974 prior to the bankrupcy of the famous Greek Line in January 1975.

Photograph kindly sent by my friend Bill Miller, Mr. Ocean Liner...

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

Paquetes Gregos de há 40 anos

Em Agosto de 1969 fizeram escalas em Lisboa três navios de passageiros gregos: QUEEN ANNA MARIA, CARINA e ARGONAUT, operados respectivamente pela Greek Line, Chandris Cruises e Epirotiki Lines.
O navio maior, mais moderno e importante era o QUEEN ANNA MARIA, adquirido em 1965 à Canadian Pacific e construído em 1956 com o nome EMPRESS OF BRITAIN. Este paquete era uma presença regular nas suas viagens transatlanticas entre o Pireu, portos do Mediterrâneo e Nova Iorque. Algumas vezes fazia escala em Ponta Delgada, Açores.
O CARINA era um velho ferry a vapor da Canadian Pacific - PRINCESS HELENA - comprado pela Chandris em 1964 e modernizado superficialmente.
Igualmente antigo era o ARGONAUT, que datava de 1929 e sofrera uma modernização mais acentuada.
Texto e imagens /Text and images copyright L.M.Correia. 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