This trio of memorable twin screw turbine powered orient Line passenger liners were among my most favourite liners of the post-war period, along with the post-war P. & o. liners. Orcades was the ancient name for the Orkney Islands and the Orcadean sagas, with her bow decoration of a stylised harp to represent the sagas. Oronsay was named after the island linked to Colonsay off the west coast of Jura and Islay, with her bow decoration of a broadsword and circular shield belonging to the clansmen of Oronsay. St. Columba landed on Oronsay on his way to Iona in the sixth century, and the unusual black fleeced goats on the island are said to be descended from surviving goats of armada galleons wrecked in 1588 on the island. Orsova was named after a small town on the Danube on the Romanian side of the frontier with Yugoslavia and a barrier to navigation, and her ‘gate’ bow decoration was representative of these Iron Gate rapids. 

Orcades and Oronsay 

This first pair of this post-war replacement trio had the same hull dimensions, with the only external distinguishing features between the two being that the tripod mast in front of the funnel of Orcades was replaced by a single streamlined mast mounted by the radar scanner on Oronsay, while there was no slant at the after end of the funnel casing on Oronsay. They are thus described together, with the keel of Orcades laid at the Barrow yard of Vickers Armstrong Ltd. on 17th September 1945. She was launched on 14th October 1947 as Yard number 950 by Lady Morshead, wife of the orient Line general Manager in Sydney, with dimensions of 711 feet length overall, moulded beam of 90 feet six inches, and depth to ‘E’ deck of 50 feet and a draft of 31 feet. The accommodation for 1,560 passengers was equally divided between First Class and Tourist Class, and with a crew of 608 the total complement was 2,168. Six Pametrada type geared steam turbines by the builders gave a maximum shaft horse power of 42,500 at 140 rpm and a normal service shaft horse power of 34,000 at 130 rpm to give service speeds of 22.5 knots.

Orcades of 28,472 grt was completed in November 1948 at a cost of £3.418 million and came round to Liverpool from Barrow for dry docking. She then proceeded to the Clyde for trials and averaged 24.74 knots. She arrived in the Thames on 16th November to prepare for her maiden voyage from Tilbury on 14th December. She sailed under the command of Capt. Charles Fox with the Australian politician Robert Menzies and tenor Peter Dawson on board, and arrived at Fremantle on 6th January 1949 having completed the voyage of 9,885 miles in twenty two days and 130 minutes.

Oronsay of 27,632 grt was launched as Yard number 976 on 30th June 1950 by Mrs. Austin Anderson, wife of the Chairman of managers Anderson, Green & Co. Ltd., and completed at Barrow in May 1951. Her outfitting was delayed by a serious fire on 28th October 1950 when 23 fire brigades attended and 2 firemen lost their lives fighting the fire. The great liner was saved from capsizing in the Buccleuch Dock at Barrow from the amount of water pumped on board by the fire brigades by lowering the water level in the dock and flooding the starboard tanks to correct her heavy list to port. However, she survived, and was fitted with the important development of Denny Brown stabilisers for the immense comfort of her passengers, and her construction had made good use of welding and prefabrication of forty tonne sections. The complete prefabrication of her propeller shaft brackets, and the welding of her shell plating, all of her decks, tank tops, rudder and stern frame was a step forward from the mostly riveted hull of Orcades.

Oronsay had a passenger complement of 668 in First Class, 830 in Tourist Class and with a crew of 622 the total complement was 2,120. Oronsay sailed from Tilbury on her maiden voyage on 16th May 1951 for Fremantle, Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney. She had cost one million pounds more than her sister at £4.228 million, the improvements justifying the extra cost. She achieved a better average speed of 25.23 knots than her sister on her trials in the English Channel. The usual ‘forest’ of paper streamers thrown by passengers linked the great liner to the quay as she pulled away from the Tilbury pier.

General Arrangement of Orcades and Oronsay 

The general arrangement of the pair was one of eight decks, ‘a’ to ‘H’ inclusive, and all were devoted to passenger and crew accommodation, with the exception that the forward part of ‘H’ deck was arranged for the carriage of insulated cargo. a further deck below ‘H’ deck extended from the forward boundary of the ‘midships fuel tanks to the aft bulkhead of number three hold, three holds being forward of the ‘midships bridge and engine room, and another three holds being aft. This lower deck was immediately above the refrigerating machinery and was used to store fruit and vegetables, cheese and bacon, meat, butter, poultry, fish, eggs and ice. A dozen main transverse bulkheads were subdivided even further into many spaces in the lower part of the hull by longitudinal and transverse bulkheads. The lower compartments plus the cellular double bottom formed tanks for the carriage of fuel oil, fresh water, feed water and ballast water. The eight decks were arranged as follows:-

‘A’ sports Deck had large open areas for deck games, with an arena of 3,600 square feet forward of the bridge as an outstanding feature of the liners, and a Sun Deck aft measuring 68 feet by 44 feet and protected by a windscreen.

‘B’ Deck public rooms for the First Class Lounge, galleries, Lobbies, Dancing spaces and Café.

‘C’ Deck for First Class Staterooms with the Tourist Class Sports Deck and Promenade aft, and the First Class and Tourist Class swimming pools aft.

‘D’ Deck for First Class Staterooms with the Tourist Class Dancing spaces and Children’s Playroom aft.

‘E’ Deck for First Class Staterooms in the forward half, then engineers to starboard and pursers, chief steward, doctors and nurses to port, and aft was the Tourist Class Lounge, Hospital and Tourist Class Promenades.

‘F’ Deck had crew accommodation forward, then 35 First Class Staterooms, the First Class Dining room, galley and Pantry storage rooms, and then aft of the engine and boiler exhaust uptakes was the Tourist Class Dining room, Tourist Class Library and some Tourist class cabins. 

‘G’ Deck had Steward cabins forward of the engine room and boiler exhaust uptakes, and Tourist Class cabins aft. 

‘H’ Deck had the insulated ‘tween decks of the three forward holds, then moving aft a wine store, beers and mineral waters store, tobacco store, bonded stores, issuing stores, flour store. The top of the central turbo-generator room, boiler room and engine room followed, and then many more Tourist Class cabins abaft of the machinery spaces.

Public Rooms of Orcades and Oronsay 

First Class Dining room was fully air conditioned and occupied the full width of the liners, with a children’s dining room on the port side and an extra private dining room on the starboard side. Brian o’ Rorke, an interior designer from New Zealand, was commissioned for the decorative schemes of the public rooms. He had also been commissioned on the pre-war orient Line vessels. He designed this space as ‘a room within a room’ by means of decorated panelled screens arranged at intervals along this large room. This formed a number of semi private alcoves and spaces facing towards the central portion of the room. Slatted panelling and sound proofing deadened some of the noises of the room so that private conversations could be held. Meals were served to table direct from small lifts and dumb waiters, and the dining armchairs were upholstered in leather, and full length window curtains were toned to the light brown colour of the room. Oronsay hosted special ‘Caledonian Dinner’ nights in this restaurant.

First Class Foyer and the Main Entrance Hall were located on the deck above the First Class Dining room to avoid congestion on sailing days. The foyer was panelled in light African mahogany with vestibules to port and starboard, and was served by the main stairway and two passenger lifts.

First Class Tavern towards the after end of ‘C’ deck was an informal room in the modern style with a wooden bar front and low backed chairs, and murals on two sides of the room. An almost uninterrupted view of the swimming pool was provided by a series of Esavian glazed screens, which could be folded away to throw the room open to the pool and lido.

First Class lounge on ‘B’ deck was again a large full width room with air conditioning, wide windows extending from deck to ceiling, a large mural depicting one of the most famous country houses in Britain, that of Audley End in Essex. Settees, easy chairs, armchairs and many tables with Warerite plastic tops were arranged in interesting groups. Entertainment was provided on a daily basis, such as horse and frog racing using wooden horses and frogs with tote betting taking place, Scottish dancing, bingo, choir practice and fancy dress parties. ‘Crossing the Equator’ ceremonies were performed outside at the First Class swimming pool, or at the Tourist Class swimming pool one deck below.

First Class galleries were located to port and starboard of the boiler casing on ‘B’ deck, and linked the Entrance Hall that adjoined the Lounge with the First Class dancing spaces. The galleries were panelled in broad elm wood and had furniture similar to the Lounge. The inboard walls of the galleries opposite the large windows were treated as decorative screens in a series of leaves, each containing one of a series of paintings by Australian and British artists. The rugs and furnishings were blue green in colour with curtains of lime green. The combined Dancing spaces and Cinema had a central raised roof incorporating coloured light battens and festoons controlled from the orchestra platform. The sides were enclosed by Esavian glazed screens in three banks and panelled to match the under surface of the ceiling.

First Class Verandah Bar was accessed through the double doors of the dancing spaces and it overlooked the First Class swimming pool to aft. At the after end of the Verandah Bar were Esavian folding screens, which when open, gave passengers an unobstructed view of the pool. The room was decorated with nautical murals e.g. prints of famous sailing ships, with as a centrepiece a model of the clipper orient of 1853. The room was furnished with leather upholstered settees, easy chairs, armchairs and wooden occasional tables.

First Class library on the starboard side of ‘a’ deck beneath the navigating bridge was recessed at both ends, and had extensive glass fronted book cases, and had a single window looking seawards. Dark blue curtains and an altar set in a recess enabled the room to double as a chapel.

First Class restaurant was fully air conditioned at the aft end of ‘a’ deck and was notable on Oronsay for the large wall panel of 400 square feet depicting ‘doodles’ and drawings of horses, elephants and other caged animals by Sydney artist Douglas Annand. The mottled green carpets with glazed screens and tucked away anterooms where passengers could enjoy pre-dinner cocktails, made this room memorable.

First Class staterooms of single berth and double berth (above) were on ‘C’, ‘D’, ‘E’ and ‘F’ decks with most air conditioned. An additional Pullman berth was arranged in the double berth cabins on ‘E’ and ‘F’ decks to convert to three berth cabins. ‘C’ deck cabins had sash windows, while those on ‘D’ deck had light alloy side frames to allow for opening for fresh air. ‘D’ deck also had a number of special two berth cabins with large windows that served as extractors when opened. Careful consideration was given to the furnishings to give a high standard of comfort and included mahogany sets of drawers with mirror above, wash basins, well sprung mattresses, bedside lights, radiators and Thermos water jugs with telephones in every room.

Tourist Class Dining room was situated aft of the galley on ‘F’ deck and seated four hundred diners. The room was not air conditioned, nor were any other rooms or cabins in Tourist Class. It was panelled in bleached teak with blue Warerite plastic trims at the windows, recesses and casings. The principal features were the central sideboards with ornamental mirrors, and the frames of the dining chairs matched the wall panelling.

Tourist Class library was situated immediately aft of the Dining room and accessed through glazed double doors. The room had an atmosphere of restful comfort, with quiet corners for reading and writing. The library was panelled in cherry mahogany with extensive glass fronted book cases and chairs and tables, and comfortable furnished lounges at each side with interesting yet simple decorative murals.

Tourist Class lounge on ‘E’ deck was a bright, attractive room with furnished recesses at the sides to give privacy to small groups. The walls were panelled in cherry mahogany, with window recesses in bleached mahogany, and vertical lines in sycamore placed one foot apart. A shop was placed at the after end and its lighted windows gave life and colour to the room.

Tourist Class Verandah of one hundred feet in length at the aft end of ‘D’ deck had surrounds of hinged and decorated screens. a comfortable sun trap by day with lively dancing at night, with stairways to the Tourist Class deck games areas above and the Tourist Class Lounge below.

Tourist Class staterooms were of two berth, three berth, four berth and six berth on ‘F’, ‘g’ and ‘H’ decks. If demand was slack for voyage passages, some of the six berth cabins could be converted into two berth cabins. All cabins had wash basins except for those on ‘H’ deck, which had communal washing areas for each sex.

Orsova 

A joint fortnightly express passenger service between the United Kingdom and Australia became possible at the end of 1954 by orient Line and P. & O. Line due to the entry into service of six big, fast new liners. Orcades, Oronsay and Orsova maintained the service in conjunction with Himalaya, arcadia and Iberia of P. & o., but a further development at that time was to have a profound effect on these services.

The opposing Canadian Australasian Line withdrew their 29 year old liner Aorangi of 17,491 grt from Pacific service, and orient Line then ordered Oronsay to sail on New Year’s Day 1954 from Sydney to Auckland, Suva, Honolulu, Victoria on Vancouver Island, Vancouver and San Francisco as an experiment. The pre-war Orion repeated the experiment in September 1954, with the new Orsova sailing in April 1955 from Tilbury on a round the World voyage eastwards via the Suez Canal to Australian ports, then across the Pacific to Canadian and American ports returning homewards via the Panama Canal. This was repeated in the opposite direction by Orcades from London on 22nd august 1955 via the Panama Canal, leading to the formation of the joint orient and Pacific Lines on 20th February 1958 for Trans Pacific passenger services.

Orsova had the distinction at the time of her completion of being the largest passenger liner completed at Barrow. She had no masts and her unorthodox ‘Welsh Hat’ was the subject of much conjecture. She was slightly longer than her two earlier near sisters at 722 feet nine inches overall, moulded beam of 90 feet six inches, depth to ‘E’ deck of fifty feet, and draft of 30 feet nine inches. She had accommodation for 681 First Class passengers and 813 Tourist Class passengers and a crew of 645 to give a total complement of 2,139. She was twin screw and her six geared steam turbines produced the same speeds at full and service revolutions as her two earlier near sisters. She had spent a year on the stocks from keel laying at Barrow, with extensive use of prefabrication in fifty tonne sections and welding. Riveting had only taken place on the lower strength decks and for stiffeners of deckhouse sides and floors. She had no masts as this gave greater open deck space, with the wireless aerials, signal halyards and radar scanner transferred to the ‘Welsh Hat’ funnel.

Orsova of 28,790 grt was Yard number 1021 at Barrow and was launched on 14th May 1953 by Lady Anderson, wife of Sir Colin Anderson, Chairman of managers Anderson, green & Co. Ltd. She was fully stabilised with Denny Brown stabilisers and also fully air conditioned for the comfort of passengers in the Tropics. She achieved a maximum speed of 26.07 knots on trials but her cost had escalated to £5.776 million. She had closely spaced transverse watertight bulkheads, and cross levelling arrangements wherever longitudinal watertight and oil tight bulkheads intersected, as well as strong watertight doors to provide the necessary openings. She had six holds with Pyrene smoke detectors fitted in these and the ‘tween decks to guard against the hazard of fire, with sprinklers fitted throughout the passenger public rooms. She had similar cargo handling arrangements as her earlier sisters with four ten tonne derricks at numbers two and three hatchways, and five ton derricks on posts to serve the other holds. She was given a good complement of nineteen lifeboats, eight being motor propelled and all being carried on Welin-Maclachlan davits.

The First Class Staterooms were located in the ‘midships portions of ‘a’, ‘B’, ‘C’, ’D’, and ‘E’ decks with a smaller area of ‘F’ deck forward of the boiler casing. The Tourist Class cabins were located in the aft areas of ‘C’, ‘D’, ‘E’ and ‘F’ decks, and ‘g’ deck aft of ‘midships and ‘H’ deck aft of the top of the engine room. The cabins for the Master and Navigating officers were located on the three small decks above ‘a’ deck with the navigating bridge on the topmost small deck, and the crew had cabins in the forward areas of ‘C’, ‘D’, ‘E’, ‘F’ and ‘g’ decks, and the starboard ‘midships area of ‘E’ deck. The arrangement of her eight passenger decks was as follows :-

‘A’ sports Deck with three open areas in the arena of 4,000 square feet forward of the bridge, the ‘midships area of 4,000 square feet, and the aft quoits tennis area of 3,000 square feet. The grandstand was forward of the arena which was roofed and glazed with long vertical windows. The grandstand gave excellent views of the sports activities in the arena as well as good seaward views. The First Class Library was located on the port side ‘midships of ‘a’ deck with many glass fronted bookcases and special lighting to help their reading by passengers. The First Class restaurant Lounge was at the aft end of ‘a’ deck with large windows to give a view of the stern and the wake of Orsova. Tapestried alcoves gave private areas for groups of six or eight people, and this sophisticated room was finished with lime green walls and patterned pink carpets.

‘B’ deck had the majority of the First Class public rooms which are described below.

‘C’ deck had the First Class Tavern at the aft end, which had large sliding windows to open onto the First Class swimming pool. Sage green decorative ceramic tiles covered the floor, and there was a long open bar with high stools and teak furniture. The same ceramic tiles were carried outside to the swimming pools covered with cream, pink, turquoise and lavender designs.

‘D’ deck had the Tourist Class verandah Bar and Square, as well as a dozen very large First Class Staterooms, each with their own bathroom, lavatory, and box room as well as amenities such as showers and drying cupboards. Four of the these Staterooms had specially designed adjoining single rooms, and one that would be classed today on cruise ships as an apartment with very large adjoining sitting room and bedroom as well as all of the facilities of the nearby Staterooms.

‘E’ deck had the Tourist Class Library with many glass fronted bookcases and tables for reading and writing.

‘F’ deck had the First Class Dining room, Tourist Class Dining room and Tourist Class Lounge, which are now described.

First Class Dining room (above) covered a large area with seating and tables for 312 persons. The dining chairs were all covered in green leather and the carpets were mainly of dark green. A small private dining room was located on the starboard side with chairs and tables for two dozen diners, and was divided from the main room by curtains and glazed doors. The children’s dining room was on the port side and was panelled in beech wood, with plenty of toys, games, dolls houses, swings, small tables and chairs to add interest. The many waiters in the Dining room each had their own serving table with built in hot cupboards.

Tourist Class Dining room (above) had a length of 66 feet and covered the full width of the ship as did the First Class Dining room. A clever arrangement of glazed screens divided the room into manageable sections, but which at the same time retained the sense of spaciousness.

Tourist Class lounge was immediately abaft and adjoining the Tourist Class Dining room, and was comfortably furnished with settees and easy chairs. The room was separated from a stairway landing by a low balustrade. In hot weather, doors in the ship’s side could be opened with cool breezes wafting through wooden decorative grilles.

First Class lounge (above) on ‘B’ deck had large full height windows with cushioned wooden window seats. The room had cream painted and panelled walls and ceiling, with doors and woodwork of ash, and furniture of ash and beech and included spindle-back chairs and ‘L’ shaped settees. All of the First Class public rooms on ‘B’ deck were surrounded by a wide promenade, with the children’s playroom at the extreme forward end with large sliding doors to let in the air.

First Class galleries were arranged to port and starboard and aft of the Lounge and linked the Lounge with the First Class dancing square, a very large space for dancing, cinema shows and other social events. This area had extra height due to a raised ‘midships deck above.

First Class Verandah Bar (Tavern) was aft on ‘B’ deck (above) and was a large room with wide windows opening on to a sheltered verandah deck. The floor was covered with beautiful grey blue and grey green carpets, and the curtains were brightly patterned, and the room was furnished with green upholstered chairs, settees and easy seats and tables.

Careers of This Orient Line Trio 

The post-war cruising programme of orient Line was resumed on 17th June 1950 when Orcades sailed from Tilbury on the first post-war cruise. In October 1951, Oronsay helped to evacuate 61 wives of servicemen and 106 children from Egypt after the Egyptian government had reneged on the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of 1836. Orcades had the misfortune to run aground on 7th May 1952 at the edge of the south channel in Port Phillip Bay whilst sailing from Melbourne. She was pulled free the same day and had suffered no damage. Orcades began the orient Line post-war cruise programme from Sydney (NSW) later in 1952. She was given pride of place on 15th June 1953 in leading a fleet of liners carrying government guests at the Coronation review at Spithead. Orsova ran aground in Port Phillip Bay at Melbourne on 24th May 1956, but was refloated later the same day. Five months later, a disillusioned Englishwoman and her ten children stowed away on Orsova on a homeward voyage from Melbourne after only three months in Australia, they were put ashore at Adelaide.

During the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne, Orcades served as a floating hotel for athletes for two weeks. in July 1957, forty of the First Class cabins of Orcades became temporary wards after an outbreak of Asian flu was reported on board while in the mid Atlantic homeward bound to the U.K. on 21st august 1957, she collided with the French ship Picardie at Aden whilst manoeuvring to leave port, and unfortunately later on the same voyage eastwards two passengers died of heat exhaustion. On Boxing Day 1957, Orcades landed a seaman at Fremantle from the Newcastle cargo-liner Glenmoor, owned by Moor Line and the Runciman family, who had been transferred on board when 300 miles off the Australian coast. Orcades sailed from Tilbury in august 1958 via Lisbon, Trinidad, Panama Canal, Long Beach, Vancouver and back to Long Beach, Honolulu, Suva, Auckland and Sydney (NSW), where she remained for four days before sailing homeward.

Orcades arrived at the Belfast yard of Harland & Wolff Ltd. on 17th December 1958 for the fitting of full air conditioning in Tourist Class, the work was completed one month later. Oronsay suffered a small fire on 22nd October 1958 in Ward 2 of her hospital causing ‘D’ deck passengers to be evacuated, they returned when the fire had been put out. Oronsay had full air conditioning fitted in 1959 for all passengers and crew in Gladstone Dock at Liverpool. However, the work continued with two hundred shipyard workers onboard while she moved round to Tilbury. Orcades and Oronsay were fitted with ‘Welsh Hats’ on top of their funnels during these refits to prevent the nuisance of smoke soot on their decks, and to match that of their slightly larger near sister Orsova, which also gained full air conditioning in 1960 during a ten week refit by Vickers Armstrong Ltd.

The much larger twin ‘pepper pot’ funnelled Oriana of orient Line was home ported at Southampton from her maiden voyage on 3rd December 1960, as was the beautiful all aft design of the white hulled Canberra of P. & o. The orient Line trio under review here had corn colour hulls with green boot topping, and contrasted with the all white P. & o. liners on the associated round the World service. All of these great liners belonged to the long and great tradition that had made the United Kingdom the great powerhouse of the maritime world.

The integration of these two great liner fleets was completed on 2nd May 1960 when the subsidiary company of P. & O. – orient Lines (Passenger Services) Ltd. was announced. Orcades and Oronsay, on some voyages, then began to include Far Eastern ports on the homeward leg after arriving at Sydney (NSW) via the Panama Canal e.g. Oronsay under Capt. R. W. Roberts OBE sailed from Tilbury on 15th august 1961 for the Pacific via the Panama Canal, Fiji, Auckland and Sydney (NSW), and then included Manila, Hong Kong, Kobe, Yokohama, Honolulu, Vancouver, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Panama Canal, Trinidad, Las Palmas and Madeira, and arrived back at Tilbury on 14th January 1962 after a five month voyage.

However, this was the beginning of the end for orient Line, as two years later in 1964, Oriana, Orcades, Oronsay and Orsova dropped their distinctive orient Line hull and funnel colours, and were painted in all white P. & o. colours. The outstanding shares of the orient Steam Navigation Co. Ltd. were purchased by P. & o. at the end of that year. Orient Line became a subsidiary of the Peninsular & oriental Steam Navigation Co. Ltd. Orcades was reclassified as a one class ship in May 1964 for 1,635 passengers, and her First Class restaurant was converted into a 157 seat cinema. Orcades, Oronsay, Orsova and Oriana had all been transferred to the ownership of P. & o. by a year later in 1965.

The P. & O. – orient Lines Ltd. name was dropped in favour of just P. & O. Lines Ltd. in 1966, and to all intents and purposes orient Line disappeared into maritime history. Oronsay suffered a fire in a lower hold in July 1967, no casualties were suffered but 43 Tourist Class cabins were damaged. She was quarantined in January 1970 at Vancouver at a cost of £500,000 after a typhoid outbreak hit both passengers and crew. However, this great orient line trio of passenger ships under review here sailed on. I have an aerial photograph of Southampton Docks in 1970 showing six great white hulled liners in the Western Docks, including Orsova of orient Line and Chusan of P&O. all of these great liners were to completely disappear within a few years. The orient Line trio were moved in October 1969 from Tilbury to Southampton as their home port to bring an end to the great tradition of orient Line passenger ships sailing down the Thames from Tilbury.

On 22nd June 1970, Orcades was battered by heavy seas while eastbound off the south coast of Australia, which damaged her steering gear. She rolled heavily from side to side, resulting in numerous injuries from flying objects of all kinds. She was towed back to Fremantle and repairs took a week to complete, but over one hundred passengers refused to sail in her and instead took the train eastwards across Australia. Orcades had by then become a happy and excellent cruise ship, undertaking a series of summer cruises from Sydney each year after arrival at the end of a line voyage. She suffered a fire while berthed in Hong Kong in April 1972 during one of these cruises in her boiler room causing some damage. The P. & O. liner Iberia was laid up at Southampton at the time and parts were taken from her and flown to Hong Kong for repairs to be made.

Orcades made her last voyage homewards from Sydney via Cape Town, and made a 640 mile diversion to aid a Swedish seaman injured in an engine room accident on board the Norwegian ore carrier Berge Istra in the South Indian Ocean. The patient was transferred by lifeboat and then landed at Durban, her next port of call. On arrival in Southampton, she made a series of short cruises from that port until her last arrival at Southampton on 13th October 1972.

Oronsay was cruising full time in and around the Pacific from October 1971 from Sydney, carrying 1,400 passengers and 600 crew members until her withdrawal from service. Orsova made a 120 mile mercy dash to help a navigating officer of the American tug Tecumseh, who was ill with thrombosis and was successfully treated on board the liner in February 1972. In November 1972, a mild dysentery outbreak on board her affected 300 passengers and crew members, with the latter asked to undergo tests to find the origin of the outbreak. However, 212 Goanese stewards refused and were dismissed and taken off the liner. On 17th December 1972, Orsova sailed from Southampton on a Christmas cruise with First Class passengers only, after a three week refit, but after many complaints about the service to table, full refunds were offered to all passengers. In October 1973, lifeboats from Orsova rescued three yachtsmen in difficulties during a sudden squall off Opatija in Yugoslavia, and a month later she arrived at Southampton on 25th November 1973 and was withdrawn from service.

Orcades was laid up at Southampton on 13th October 1972, and then sold for breaking up at Kaohsiung on 7th February 1973, with Orsova sold for breaking up at Kaohsiung on 12th February 1974, and Oronsay following as the last of the trio when sold for breaking up at Kaohsiung on 9th October 1975. The last sections of Oronsay were cut up during the second half of 1976, but it is interesting that Canberra of P. & o. was initially to be withdrawn from service in December 1973 in place of Orsova, with Orsova taking over her cruise programme, but the decision was reversed due to a sudden increase in demand for cruising. 

Postscript 

This orient Line trio had each steamed millions of miles in service with no engine breakdowns from their six geared steam turbines. This speaks volumes for the standard of construction of British shipbuilders and engine builders. The thirty year period encompassed by this great trio of liners was also the highpoint of the ‘red Duster’ fleet. The downward spiral in numbers of British registered ships began after they were scrapped at Kaohsiung, and continued for forty years with only a small number of British registered cruise ships, container ships, bulk carriers and coasters left to sail on into the sunset.