MERCHANT NAVY NOSTALGIA

Ian, I recently resurrected a book I bought when I first went to sea. "Ship Recognition - Liners" by Laurence Dunn. In case you'd like to update any additional info on your site, here is some data about ships that I was on:

The Orient Line's "Orion" cost £920,000 in 1935. She was the first ship on the Australian run to have air conditioning (just in the dining areas). She was the first large liner with only one mast. She was the first of the line to have a corn coloured hull - which they then gave to all of them. She was the second liner (first was Oronsay) after the war, to connect Australia with the west coast of Nth America (we did this in 1954).

The "Chusan". Your site says she was a sister ship of the Himalaya but in fact she was nearly 4,000 gross tons smaller. Also but the Chusan had two masts and the Himalaya only one. The real sister ships of the Himalaya were the Iberia and the Arcadia but my book is too old to include them. This mast thing culminated in the Orsova of course, that didn't have any.

Other notable facts about my beloved Chusan (my favourite ship of all)... She was the first large passenger ship to be fitted with Denny-Brown stabilisers; she was air conditioned throughout in 1960, when we went to Belfast for a refit; she was the first liner after the war to travel across the Pacific from Asia to Nth. America and subsequently to circle the globe - without crossing the equator.

Some info about Canberra when I was on her: During her fourth voyage, which left Southampton on April 19th 1962, she had boiler problems, possibly due to salt water getting in there on the Maiden voyage. As a result her itinerary was changed and we went back home via the Panama Canal rather than returning to the normal Suez run. At the time, she was the largest ship to pass through the canal, and P&O had to pay £11,500 in canal fees for the privilege. We emerged on the Atlantic side with only one slight scrape to her side, despite only having 3ft 6in clearance on each side at the narrowest point of the canal. On previous ships we had three "mules" towing us each side, but with Canberra there were six each side. Of course, since then there have been several ships much larger able to traverse the locks - for much more money.

I was told that the largest ship before us was an aircraft carrier during WW2. Her flight deck was very wide so they had to move buildings at one location as the ship's overhang would have hit them.

Just in case you're interested

Cheers

Don