SS Oronsay (1950)

For other ships of the same name, see List of ships named Oronsay.

SS Oronsay and a refrigerated meat truck at Brisbane
History
United Kingdom
Name:	SS Oronsay
Owner:	1951–1966 Orient Steam Navigation Company. 1966–1975 Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company
Operator:	1951–1960, Orient Line. 1960–1966, P&O-Orient Lines. 1966–1975, P&O Line.
Port of registry:	London,  UK
Route:	Tilbury-Sydney via Suez
Builder:	Vickers-Armstrongs, Barrow-in-Furness
Cost:	£4,228,000
Yard number:	976
Laid down:	1949
Launched:	30 June 1950
Sponsored by:	Mrs A. Anderson
Completed:	May 1951
Maiden voyage:	16 May 1951
Out of service:	28 September 1975
Identification:	Official number: 184415[1] IMO number: 5265617 Call sign: GCNB
Fate:	Scrapped, 1975
General characteristics [2]
Type:	passenger liner
Tonnage:	As built 27,632 GRT, 1969, 28,117 GRT. 1970, 28,136 GRT 10,063 DWT[1]
Length:	708 ft 8 in (216.00 m) o/a 699 ft 10 in (213.31 m) p/p[1]
Beam:	93 ft 6 in (28.50 m)
Draught:	31 ft (9.4 m)
Installed power:	42,500shp
Propulsion:	Parsons Marine steam turbines, 2 screws
Speed:	22 knots (41 km/h; 25 mph)
Capacity:	As built: 1,551 passengers 668 × First class 883 × Tourist class From 1972: 1,400 passengers also 370,000 cubic feet (10,000 m3) for dry and refrigerated cargoes
Crew:	622

SS Oronsay was the second Orient Line ship built after World War II. A sister ship to Orcades, she was named after one of many islands called Oronsay on the west coast of Scotland.^[2]

The liner was completed in 1951 at Vickers-Armstrongs, Barrow-in-Furness; but several months behind schedule due to a serious fire while in the fitting-out berth. The Oronsay operated the UK to Australasia service, via the Suez Canal. Her accommodation set new standards, in both first and tourist class, with decor by Brian O'Rourke. On 1 January 1954, Oronsay left Sydney on the first Orient Line transpacific voyage to Auckland, Suva, Honolulu, Victoria, Vancouver and San Francisco, returning via the same ports. In later years the transpacific sailings became a regular feature of the Orient/P&O services. In 1960 the Orient Line and P&O fleets were merged under the control of P&O-Orient Lines (Passenger Services) Ltd. Oronsay continued to operate under the Orient houseflag and with her corn coloured hull until 1964, when her hull was painted P&O white. In 1966, P&O having acquired the balance of the Orient shares (it had controlled Orient since 1919), Orient Line was wound up and Oronsay, along with her fleet mates was transferred to the ownership of Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company and hoisted the P&O houseflag. Liner services were producing dwindling returns as jet airliner services between Europe and Australia expanded and Oronsay spent more and more time as a cruise ship, but, with declining passenger numbers, P&O could not sustain its large passenger fleet, withdrawals beginning in 1972. The large oil prices rise of 1973/4 were the final straw and Oronsay was withdrawn from service, the penultimate example of the six post war 28,000 ton types (Arcadia sailed on until 1979). On 7 October 1975 she arrived at Kaohsiung to be broken up by the Nan Feng Steel Enterprise Co. ^[3]

In popular culture

Oronsay was one of the ships seen in the 1958 British comedy film The Captain's Table. Stock footage of all three post war Orient ships was used to depict the fictional SS Queen Adelaide and some scenes were shot on board at Tilbury Docks.^[4] Orient ships were also seen in stock footage in the 1962 British comedy film Carry On Cruising.^[2]

Notable passengers

• Australian writer Leonora Polkinghorne died on board the Oronsay in May 1953, whilst en route to Denmark to attend the Women's World Congress.^[5]
• Tony Abbott, the 28th Prime Minister of Australia, aged two, emigrated to Australia with his family aboard the Oronsay in 1960.^[6][7]
• British historical novelist Eleanor Hibbert travelled on the Oronsay from United Kingdom to Sydney in 1970.^[8]
• Musician David Bowie travelled on the Oronsay from San Francisco to Yokohama in March/April 1973.^[2]
• Michael Ondaatje's 2011 novel The Cat's Table is a fictionalised account of the author's childhood voyage in 1954 from Ceylon to Britain on board the Oronsay.
• Diane Palmer (famed girls camp director and singer of 'Grandma's in the Cellar') immigrated to Australia from England with her family in 1959 at the age of 3. She later married Paul McSweeney and had 8 children before immigrating to the USA in 1992

References