ssMaritime
The
SS Fairsky –
(author’s collection)
Pamela Joyce Hansen kindly wrote us regarding
her and her husband’s experience whilst on a cruise when the SS Fairsky
struck a sunken wreck just out of
She wrote:
“Our
cruise departed
We had an outside cabin, but the toilets and
showers were down the corridor. In those days there were no double beds, thus
being newly married we would put the two single mattresses on the floor and
sleep there. The single bed being too small for two! But, we thoroughly enjoyed our honeymoon cruise
for this was a delightful ship in every sense of the word!
Few cabins on Fairsky had private facilities. A
wash basin and the rest down the hall
Crossing the Equator Ceremony on June 17
All passengers receive a certificate a close up
of the date is seen below
However, not long after departing
Before we left the ship our steward kindly gave us his two Sirmar Cruises lapel pins
We were then told on a deck by deck basis to go and get our things from our cabins and bring them up on deck. Our baggage area was the swimming pool.
Our baggage had to be stacked around the pool
Lifeboats were soon made ready for launching
Even though her bow was low in the water and she
was listing, to me she looked sad, but still impressive!
We are now slowly heading towards show and
others are disembarking
This photo clearly shows the other lifeboats
being lowered
In addition to the ships lifeboats, shore
tenders were also used to ferry passengers back to shore
My Indonesian visa stamp in my Passport
I was allowed to leave the ship before my husband,
I waited back on land for him to come and about 3 hrs later Garry turned up. We
were taken to a lovely hotel, and Sitmar Lines paid for every thing, meals
etc. As you can imagine I was only 20 and I was worried that my parents
back in 
“accident.”
Sitmar arranged for day trips for us to go on,
and after several days we had permission to leave. We flew back by Jumbo jet to
I look back on the whole adventure with fond
memories, part one of the cruise was just wonderful, the evacuation went
smoothly, and the way Sitmar handled the whole situation in
Pamela Hansen is seen here 30 years later and ready for her next cruise adventure!
Now, 30 years later Pamela is due to take her
next cruise on P&O’s Pacific Dawn
THANK YOU: The story above was provided by M/s. Pamela Joyce Hansen, although it has been edited and some changes were made for clarification. All images (except the introduction photo of the Fairsky) were taken by Pamela, or her then husband Garry, and are used by ssMaritime with permission. We are grateful to Pamela Joyce Hansen for sharing her adventure with us and we hope that her next cruise will also be memorable, however, for very different reasons!
PS: What happened to the Fairsky after she was placed on
a sandbank? The hole in her hull was filled with concrete and on the 29th.she was refloated able to proceed under her own
power to a
Upon her
arrival, Fairsky was laid up awaiting demolition; but just before breaking up
was due to commence, she was purchased by the Filipino firm of “Peninsula
Tourist Shipping Corp” in March 1978, and she was renamed the
“Philippine Tourist.” The vessel was transferred under tow to the
Bataan Shipyard and Engineering yards of Manila, where she would be converted
into a floating hotel and casino based in Manila. However her venture was short
lived and doomed, for on
The Sitmar Liners - INDEX:
The Early Sitmar Liners …
Part One … Castel Bianco & Castel Verde -
Built as a Victory
VC2-S-AP2 class
of freighters.
Castle Bianco - The Karlsson family’s
voyage
Part Two … Castel Felice
Castel
Felice - Cabin Plan & the Robert Brinkhuis
story 1965
Castel Felice - My 1957 voyage to
Castel
Felice - The
Williams family sail to
Castel Felice - Three articles about a
family’s voyage on the Castel Felice and arrival in
Part Three … Fairsea (1)
Fairsea – Photo Page.
Fairsea - Deck Plan.
Fairsea –
The Strachan
Part Four … Fairsky
Fairsky – Deck Plan
Fairsky – Piet Mulder sails on SS Fairsky
Fairsky – Fairsky hits a wreck out
of
The last
Sitmar Liner and Cruise Ships
or go to our INDEX
Who is the Author of ssMaritime?
Commenced
in the passenger Shipping Industry in May 1960
Also
visit my …
“Save The Classic Liners Campaign” & “Classic Ocean Voyages”