# Unknown passenger boat, leaving Freemantle for the last time,



## ray morgan (Apr 6, 2009)

Can anyone remember the name of the Strath boat or [email protected] boat that left Freemantle May 61,she come off the berth just on dusk, right down the middle of the Harbour ,band playing Auld lang syne, all the ships searchlights playing on here,ships whistles blowing ,she blew for the last time leaving the Harbour going out into Western Roads.I was on the Dorset at the time every one had a lump in there throats and a tear in there eye even though they wouldnt admit it,a very good memory.


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## shamrock (May 16, 2009)

I have only found the P&O Orantes on her last, 74th, voyage out of Fremantle but that was on January 19th, 1962...not 1961...

http://www.fremantleports.com.au/About/OurHistory/1962.asp

1961's history...what there is of it is here..

http://www.fremantleports.com.au/About/OurHistory/1961.asp


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## R58484956 (Apr 19, 2004)

I think that the name of the ship should be "Orontes" of the Orient Line.
20186 tons.


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## scorcher (Jul 2, 2007)

I am only quoting from a book which is not as good as being an eye witness, but could it have been the STRATHAIRD?
Last voyage from UK being Mar 28- 1961 .


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## Cisco (Jan 29, 2007)

I'd go with Strathaird. I witnessed her last departure from Melbourne with a couple of great aunts on board. She arrived in HK for breaking on July 24, 1961 so that would allow over 2 months Freo/Tilbury/HK ( including breakdowns ).

Strathnaver did her last trip early 1962.


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## melliget (Dec 3, 2006)

Hi.

Don't know if it's any of these but these are mentions of Fremantle in the Movements of Liners section (from Lloyd's) in The Times around May 1961:

The Times, Thursday, Apr 27, 1961
ORIANA, fm. Sthmtn. for Fremantle, left Colombo 26.

The Times, Tuesday, May 02, 1961
ORIANA, fm. Sthmptn. for Sydney, cld. Fremantle 1.

The Times, Tuesday, May 09, 1961
STRATHMORE, fm. Sydney for Ldn., cld. Fremantle 7.

The Times, Friday, May 26, 1961
STRATHEDEN, fm. Ldn. for Sydney, clld. Fremantle 25.

Seems to be a gap in the middle there, so perhaps the search missed some.

I know it's not her but P. & O.'s ss Canberra did her maiden voyage from England to Australia in 1961, arriving in Fremantle 23 June. One ship at the end of her life (whoever she might have been), another just starting out.

regards,
Martin


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## Dulcibella (Mar 7, 2008)

I sailed aboard Strathnaver on her last voyage from Melbourne in January 1962. Most of the pre-war liners of both P&O and Orient went to the breakers or were sold within a short time of each other. Stratheden became a pilgrim ship for a while befre she too was disposed of. I'll attach a table of "disposals" that I produced for a thesis that I did a couple of years ago for my MA in Maritime History.

Dulcibella


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## ray morgan (Apr 6, 2009)

Dulcibella,thanks very much for your help,Strathaird seems to fit the bill,as Scorcher and Cisco seem to think as well, thanks all for the imput, the name Strathaird, does not ring a bell ,it is forty eight years ago, though. Regards Ray.


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## John41 (Jul 29, 2010)

*Immigrant ship*

Arrived in Australia in January 1955 on that wonderful old ship - The Strathaird. I was only 13 at the time, and thought I'd died and gone to heaven, with the way we were looked after by the P & O crew, especially coming from a working class Glasgow family, who hadn't experienced such luxury before. That particular voyage was a one class trip, so we had the run of the ship.
I went school in Fremantle, and we used to go down to the wharf and walk on board all the immigrant ships ! How times have changed. Try and do that now !)
One thing i do remember about the Straths. The Strathaird and the Strathnaver were almost exact copies of each other.

John
Calista, Western Australia


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## Lksimcoe (Oct 30, 2006)

I have a book at home that shows the interiors of all the great liners. They have pics of the Strath's, and they were truly beautiful. It's a shame that all the new liners are imitation wood, imitation everything. They just don't seem to have any souls.
My mum and 2 sisters went to the UK in 1953 on a liner that I have no clue the name of. They would have gone from Montreal to either Southampton or possibly Liverpool, so I'm thinking it would have been the old Empress of Scotland, (later Hanseatic), or another older CP ship. SOmewhere I have a pic of them on board, and if I can ever get my $*(%&$(* scanner to work, I send it for the experts here to identify. You've never let anyone down before.


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## Alan Maggs (Jan 31, 2010)

hello Ray
If I remember correctly the ship was the last of the O boats the ORONTES
I was an apprentice in the River Murrumbidgee.
We loaded ilmenite in Bunbury about a month before and after discharge in Burnie were heading north to Newcastle NSW when we saw her heading south. I took a photo which I still have somewhere.
That period of two months saw the last of some very old ships.
While in Fremantle just before easter 1961 Three ships were in port on their last voyage. The PORT AUCKLAND and PORT DUNEDIN both built in the mid 1920's and the Dutch Liner JOHANN VAN ODENBARNEVELDT commonly called the JVO


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## PRES (Jul 11, 2009)

The Strathaird.
I was doing repairs on a ship "swinging on the pick" in Athol Bight in Sydney Harbour when she passed with her Paying-Off Pennant on display.
Don't know the month but it was winter.


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## ray morgan (Apr 6, 2009)

Just read an article from the Autumn 1996 Australian Sea Heritage."Strathaird" final voyage from Sydney began on 9th May 1961,leaving Freemantle on 19th May. On here way to London the old ship passed the new "Canberra",on its outward maiden voyage.


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## Ian6 (Feb 1, 2006)

Dulcibella's post #7 with the interesting attached list of P&O disposals omits Canton who went to HK shipbreakers in October 1962 - I was her 3/O at the time. She definitely wasn't the departure from Fremantle as her route was UK - Japan.
Ian


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## KYRENIA (Aug 10, 2007)

Alans post ,No11
PORT AUCKLAND (1) 1922-43, wartime casualty,sunk.
PORT AUCKLAND (11) 1949 sold 1976.


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## Alfina (Oct 17, 2021)

ray morgan said:


> Can anyone remember the name of the Strath boat or [email protected] boat that left Freemantle May 61,she come off the berth just on dusk, right down the middle of the Harbour ,band playing Auld lang syne, all the ships searchlights playing on here,ships whistles blowing ,she blew for the last time leaving the Harbour going out into Western Roads.I was on the Dorset at the time every one had a lump in there throats and a tear in there eye even though they wouldnt admit it,a very good memory.


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## Alfina (Oct 17, 2021)

Ray Morgan. You might enjoy this postcard from my dads album. He came to Australia on P&O RMS Mooltan in 1949.This is she passing under the Sydney Harbour Bridge with RMS Strathnaver. I’m not sure when this picture was taken but not the year he came out.
I love how clear it is.


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