# SS/MV Lakonia



## Stuart Smith (Oct 30, 2004)

I am trying to find out any information dealing with the LAKONIA (with a K not a C).
She was certainly sailing in 1944 but that is the limit of my knowledge.
Can anyone shed any light on her please?

Stuart Smith


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## ruud (Dec 6, 2004)

Ahoy Stuart.

Is this the one you're looking for? There have been others by that name.


http://www.shipsnostalgia.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/8622/password/0/sort/1/cat/all/page/1

http://www.theshipslist.com/pictures/johanvanoldenbarnevelt.htm


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## Principe_Perfeito (Aug 21, 2005)

Hello to all.

More information on what was, perhaps, the most famous ship bearing the name LAKONIA: 
http://www.ssmaritime.com/jvo1.htm
http://www.histarmar.com.ar/InfGral/Lakonia1.htm

A colour picture of the former JvO on fire:
http://members.lycos.nl/marveloz/pics/lakonia.jpg

The JvO in happier days:
http://members.lycos.nl/marveloz/pics/jvojava.jpg

Donaldson had two ships named LAKONIA:
Lakonia (1) 1899 1924 scrapped at Genoa. 4,686
Lakonia (2) 1944 ex-Samtrusty, 1947 purchased renamed Lakonia, 1962 sold to Liberia, renamed Sangaetano. 7,227

Best regards from Lisbon,
Paulo Mestre


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## Ron Dean (Aug 11, 2010)

I posted the following in Ships Research under the heading "Dotterel".
Just in case anyone hasn't cross referenced, I'm posting it here again as follows :-
Since this site is all about nostalgia, I thought I'd enlarge a little on my previous posting.
We booked our passages on the Dotterel in 1958 through the agent Pitt & Scott, to sail from Manchester down the Ship Canal to Liverpool then to Antwerp & Ghent.
It was our intention to visit the Brussels World Fair of that year.
2 days before we were due to sail we received a telegram (delivered by a boy on a bike of course) which informed us that "due to cargo commitments" we would now be sailing from Liverpool & our ports of call would now be Amsterdam & Rotterdam.
I remember that on entering the port of Rotterdam, we jumped the queue ahead of the "Nieuw Amsterdam" (the Dutch flagship at that time) and the "Johan van Oldenbarnveldt" - an immigrant ship which was later sold to Greece and renamed the "Lakonia". The Lakonia caught fire & sank with the loss of 117 lives in the Atlantic 250 miles west of Gibraltar whilst on a Christmas Cruise in 1963.
I remember comparing the pictures blazoned on the front page of the newspaper, with one I had taken 5 years previously of the J.v.O. and subsequently reading that it was the same ship.
I also remember on our voyage, being mildly chastised for whistling on the Bridge (we later battled thro' a force 8 in the Channel).
I was more seriously taken to task for nearly emptying the fresh water tank, by leaving the tap running in an effort to keep our cabin drinks cool.
If anyone is still awake after these ramblings - Yes we did make it to the World Fair (by train from Amsterdam) on the day that Prince Philip officially opened the British exhibit which was a typical English pub - "The Fox & Hounds".
Forgot to mention why we got priority to enter the port of Rotterdam, apparently we were carrying some product of an explosive nature manufactured by I.C.I.


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