ssMaritime
With Reuben Goossens
Maritime
Historian
The Sitmar
Ships
Part Three
MS Fairsea

Sitmar
issued this postcard in the mid sixties
Introduction
Over
the years I have received hundreds of requests to do a feature on the Sitmar
Ships. In this work, I will present a short history on each ship, together with
a number of photographs. I hope that these pages will have you reliving your
Sitmar experience. All Sitmar ships, except the Fairsky (2) were old tonnage
that were given extensive rebuilds to become from austere migrant liners to
quality cruise ships. Ships in this feature include; Castel Bianco, Castel
Verde, Castel Felice, Fairsea (1), Fairsky (1), Fairwind, Fairsea (2). In 1984
Sitmar’s only new ship, named, Fairsky (2) was completed. Late in the
eighties Sitmar ordered a 63,500 GRT
cruise ship to be named Sitmar Fair Majesty, however, whilst being built,
Sitmar was taken over by P&O Princess Cruises and she was completed as the
Star Princess. I trust you will enjoy this feature on the Sitmar Ships.

A
fine view of Fairsea in Fremantle (Perth) Australia
Fairsea was
another converted C3 class ship, originally named Rio de la Plato, a passenger
freighter, ordered by Moore-McCormack Lines. She was built by Sun Shipbuilding
& Drydock Co, Chester
USA
and launched on March
1, 1941. She and her three sisters were the first large diesel
driven ships built in the USA.
Built as a passenger cargo ship, she has accommodations for seventy passengers
and was to sail between New York and South America.

Rio de la Plata under construction
However, prior
to completion she was taken over by the US Government in October and was fitted
out as an escort carrier for the US Navy. She was handed over to the Royal
Navy, named HMS Charger and was commissioned on March 3, 1942. She served on convoy
duties in the north Atlantic and had a number
of close calls, yet she survived. Later she was returned to the Americans and
placed into service in the Pacific, serving the US Navy with distinction.

HMS
Charger
Charger was
released from naval service on March 15, 1946, and returned to Moore-McCormack, who
proceeded to remove her flight deck and converted her to carry troops. This
service was brief and she was soon mothballed together with other ships of her
class in the James River. Like her many
sisters, she was placed on the market.
In 1949, she
was purchased by Alexander Vlasov, founder of Sitmar Lines placed her under the
management of the Alvion Steam Ship Company. Named the Fairsea she headed for Genoa where she was reconstructed as an
austere emigrant ship with accommodations for a massive 1,800 persons. Fairsea
departed on her maiden voyage from Genoa to Australia on December 3, 1949, after which she
operated the Bremerhaven - Sydney service.

Fairsea
during her maiden voyage December 1949
A good numbers
of C3 Class ships were converted into migrant ships, including Fairsea’s Moore-McCormack sister, Mormacmail,
which became the German registered (operated by Holland America Line) Seven Seas. She operated to Canada,
the US, Australia as well in New Zealand, as well as an occasional
cruise ship. Others became the Cogedar Flaminia, and Flotta
Lauro Roma and Sydney, also employed on the Australia
- New Zealand
service.

This
postcard was released in January 1954
In November
1953, whilst berthing in Melbourne,
a fire broke out I the engine room, which was soon extinguished, the result
being that her engine room was flooded. After cleaning up she was able to
continue her duties.

Fairsea in seen 1954,
after she received a shapely new funnel and a tripod mast on her bridge.
Note the
derricks aft, these would be removed at the next refit
In December
1953 she received some cosmetic changes such as her funnel and mast. Having
regularly visited Australia, it was only in February 1957 that she returned
home eastward for the first time, making her Maiden call to New Zealand
continuing across the Pacific, then undertook her first ever transit of the
Panama Canal.

Postcard
of a modernised Fairsea
In 1957,
Fairsea received another refit at Trieste.
Her superstructure was raised one deck, with extensions forward and aft of
promenade deck adding new public rooms. Her aft derricks were removed with one
of the holds became a swimming pool. Air-conditioning was installed and cabins
upgraded. She emerged as a pleasing liner with her tonnage increased 13,432 GRT, accommodating 1,460 passengers. Interior décor
was pleasing, exuding Italian flair. Upon completion she headed Downunder
flying the official Sitmar flag for the first time.

Above &
Below: After her 1957 refit, although still very much a C3 class ship, her
lines were more pleasing

Being
under Government contract, Fairsea continued to transport British passengers to
Australia
and News Zealand. In 1961 she received another refit, which saw her
accommodations further upgraded, which saw her capacity reduced to 1,212.
Having become a popular ship in Australia,
Sitmar decided to try her out as a cruise ship. She departed Sydney on July 7, 1966,
visiting Cairns, the Great Barrier Reef (Hayman Island)
and Melbourne.
In between her line voyages, she continued to undertake the occasional cruise.

Seen in Wellington New
Zealand - 1967
On January 14, 1969,
Fairsea departed Sydney with a complement of 986
passengers heading for Southampton. On the 23rd
located around 900 miles west of the Panama Canal
she suffered a fire in the engine room. The ship and most of her vital
facilities, such as the galley, air-conditioning, toilets, water
distilling equipment were all disabled. Fairsea was towed to Balboa by American
ship SS Louise Lykes. Sadly, the strain was so great,
Captain, Ciro Cardia
committed suicide whilst in his cabin. Upon arrival in Balboa, her passengers
disembarked and were flown to their destinations. Due to her having Doxford
Diesels, parts were no longer available, thus, it was decided to dispose of the
once popular ship and she was sold to Italian breakers.
On July 9, 1969,
she departed under tow of the tug Vortice to La Spezia Italy, where
she arrived on August 6, to be broken up.
Fairsea Fire – The Bradford Story
Please Note: The story
received from Peter and Penney Bradford was in basic detail and thus I have
decided to edit it to a degree to make the story flow and also clarification,
etc. However, all the details are as told by Peter and Penney!
Peter and Penny
Bradford and their two small children boarded the SS Fairsea in Brisbane in January 1969 bound for Southampton sailing via
Panama Canal. The voyage started out as normal
with the usual onboard festivities and meals, and of course, not to forget the
lifeboat drill.
“As usual we
all had to put on our life jacket's which was a perfect time for a photograph
and I took one of my wife Penney and my three year old son Peter.”

Eleven month old Peter and Penny out
on deck wearing our lifejackets
Photograph © Peter Bradford
Peter told me that
although the Fairsea was scheduled to make a call at Auckland, for some reason this port was
missed and he wrote …
“Instead we
headed straight for Tahiti. It was not long after
we left Tahiti (on
January 23) the engine room caught
fire, and when we came up on deck to see what was happening we could see
smoke belching from up from the funnel. Soon the order was given to
abandon ship and lifeboats were prepared at the side of the ship and all
passengers were ordered to put on their lifejackets. However, after hours
of waiting out on deck, we were eventually told that the fire had been
contained and we thankfully did not have to abandon ship after all. You
can imagine that we were very relieved, but were not quite prepared for the
difficulties that ware yet to come.
We noted that the
ship was listing substantially and then when going down to our cabins we
discovered that we could not use our cabins to sleep for the air-conditioning
no longer worked as it was like an oven down there! Thus, it was find a place
up above and try and make yourself as comfortable as possible. After a
number of days of reasonable hardship, considering the crowd onboard, a
sea-going tug reached our ship and they proceeded to pump the diesel oil from
the ship to the tug, but they then discovered that the fuel was unsuitable for
the tug and now we had another situation, for suddenly the tug itself was left
helpless and drifting. Fortunately the sea remained calm, thus it made
things a little easier for us all. However on the 29th, six days after the fire, an American freighter named
the SS Louis Lykes, which was on its way home from Vietnam,
arrived on the scene.

SS Louis Lykes
seen from the starboard side of the Fairsea
Photograph © Peter Bradford
As soon as the
salvage arrangements had been arranged, SS Louis Lykes
took both the Fairsea and the tug in tow. The tug being towed
behind the Fairsea. We were towed to Panama. In Panama we were given the option to either fly to
the UK
or wait for another ship. When we returned home to the UK, our three
year old daughter Pauline was rushed to the hospital as she had caught an
unknown virus, which needed urgent attention. She did recover from her illness although
it took some time.
The story had
already circulated whilst we were still on the Fairsea that our Captain had
committed suicide, however, we were never quite sure if the story was factual.
But later we realised that sadly it was true and what a tragedy is was. It was
an experience and indeed a tragedy that we will never forget!”
Peter and
Penney have other happy memories with Sitmar though, for Peter originally came to Australia in
January 1965 on the Fairsea. Then in October 1965 Peter and Penny met whilst
sailing on the TSS Fairstar.
Penney was travelling to England
on a working holiday, and Peter was returning to the UK. The Fairstar had recently
been refitted and Penney remembers that “She was just a beautiful ship,
and thus, beside the sad events of the Fairsea voyage, we both have very happy
memories of Sitmar Line.”
I hereby wish
to thank Peter and Penney Bradford for providing your story of that fateful
voyage on the SS Fairsea, a simple, but a much loved ship by so many!
If you where
on that fateful Fairsea voyage or you wish to communicate with Peter and Penney,
you can do so per email: peterpen46@bigpond.com.
**************************************************
The name
Fairsea lived on, as it was transferred to another Sitmar ship, ex Cunard Liner
RMS Carinthia, which
received a massive rebuild in Trieste, under the name TSS Fairland, but she departed on her maiden voyage
with the name of Fairsea proudly pained on her bow and stern. Later she became
the P&O Princess Cruises TSS
Fair Princess, a successful US and Australian cruise ship. In 2000 she was sold
to become a failed and much troubled (business wise) casino cruise ship, the TSS China Sea Discovery. However, she was
eventually laid up and in August 2005 she was sold for 4.2 million to Indian
breakers and was broken up at Alang in 1996.
Read about her troubled life as a casino ship, entitled the “China Sea Discovery Saga” – This is her story as
told by a senior officer!

Sitmar’s
new Fairsea, built as the Cunard’s Carinthia.
Length: 150 m
Beam: 21,1 m
GRT: 13,432 t
Built: 1941 Sun Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co, Chester, Pennsylvania, USA
Operator: Sitmar, Genoa
Engines: 2 X Doxford type diesels
Screws: Single
Speed: 16.5 kn
Passengers: 1,460
Former names: Rio
De La Plata 1941, Charger 1942-1949
View our Special Fairsea
Photo Page
INDEX - The Sitmar Ships
Part One - Castel Bianco & Castel Verde
Part
Two - Castel Felice
Part Three - Fairsky (1)
Part
Four - Fairsea (1)
Fairsea
Photo Page
Fairsky
– Piet Mulder sails on
SS Fairsky
Fairsky
– Fairsky hits a wreck
out of Djakarta – The Pamela Joyce
Hansen story
Castle
Bianco - The Karlsson family’s voyage
Other Sitmar Ships
Fairstar
ex Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Fair Princess
- ex (P&O
& Princess Cruise ship),
Sitmar Fairland, Fairsea, Cunard Line Carinthia
China Sea Discovery
- ex Fair Princess - broken up
Pacific Sky ex Princess Cruises Sky Princess, Sitmar Fairsky (2)
– currently Pullmantur Cruises Sky Wonder (online soon)
***************************************************
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