Cruise of the Kings

— by Bill “Mr. Ocean Liner” Miller

Royal Voyage!  Even the exiled king & queen of Italy were together with their four children when they took part in the Mediterranean/Greek isles cruise purposely organized by Queen Frederica and her husband King Paul of Greecein 1954. It became known as the “Cruise of the Kings”.  It was attended by over 100 royals from all over Europe. But since the ship’s voyage began in Naples, the Italian royal family could only board later, in Corfu in Greece, as they were not allowed to set foot on Italian soil. Nevertheless, on this trip, their daughter Princess Maria Pia met her future husband, Prince Alexander of Yugoslavia.   After all, the cruise was partly meant by Queen Frederica to be “royal meet and match”.

The year-old, 5,500-ton Agamemnon (seen below on the left), built at Genoa in 1953 as wartime reparations to Greece, and its twin sister Achilleus, were created purposely for regular service across the Eastern Med – alternating from Venice to Brindisi, Piraeus, Alexandria, Limassol, Beirut, Alexandria, Piraeus, Naples & Marseilles and then reversing.   

Accurately, the 416-ft long sisters were hardly overly luxurious, but they were comfortable. They were owned by shipping tycoon Petros Nomikos (the Nomikos Lines), a loyal friend to the Greek king and queen.   He canceled a regular voyage and chartered the 17-knot ship to the royal couple.  

The Second World War had “ruptured” relations between Europe’s royal families and so German-born Queen Frederica (she was a granddaughter of the last Kaiser, in fact) saw it an ocean-going “reunion”.   

Furthermore, as European tourism resumed, the strong-willed Queen wanted to promote Greece as a tourist destination.   The cruise was actually underwritten by monies the late shipownerEugen Eugenides (Home Lines) had left Frederica for the promotion of “international tourism in Greece”.  Frederica also saw the cruise as a way that enabled young European royals to meet & perhaps marry.

The two Nomikos passenger ships normally carried just over 400 passengers – 150 in first class, 150 in second class and 100 in lower-deck tourist class.   Each ship had 5 suites with full bathrooms and sitting rooms;   otherwise, only some of the remaining first class cabins had private shower & toilet only and none in second class. How the royals were assigned their accommodation is uncertain.  But there was no shortage on the guest list.

Altogether, there were 104 royals – some quite junior, others quite elderly – onboard.   The British royal family was among those that politely declined, but the likes of Queen Juliana of the Netherlands (and the future Dutch queen, Princess Beatrix) happily accepted.  So did Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg.   The Swedish & Danish royal families joined with the former kings of Rumania, Bulgaria and aforementioned Italy.  

Then there were long lists of princes & princesses, dukes & duchesses and below.   Dining room table assignments were changed each day as well as well-planned shore excursions in each port. The full itinerary read:  Marseilles, Naples, Corfu, Rhodes, Santorini, Mykonos, Skiathos, Cape Sounion and finally Piraeus (for Athens).  

The cruise was dubbed successful and repeated two years later, but on sistership Achilleus.  

Post Script:   Just in case, you are interested further:  In 1958, the Agamemnon & Achilleuswere sold to Olympic Cruises, a new cruise firm created by another Greek tycoon:  Aristotle Onassis.     But it was rather shortlived:   Onassis pulled out of cruising in 1963 and the ships were sold to Dorian Cruises, also Greek.

The Agamemnon capsized at her Piraeus berth in 1968.   Later salvaged, she was laid-up and then scrapped in 1974.  The Achilleus was  soldto Kavounides Shipping Company in 1968 and refitted as their Orion (seen below).  It was scrapped in 1998.

Bill Miller “Mr. Ocean Liner” with a Rare Magazine “SS United States” Cover

SCRIBBLINGS
From Bill Miller

The Carinthia at Montreal

Sat Jun 21^st At Home:  Memories Soviet Style!  Back in the mid 1960s, Graham Lees served aboard Cunard’s Carinthia and on the Liverpool-Montreal route.  Our recent posting on the Alexandr Pushkin/Marco Polo prompted memories of that ship.  “Whilst in Montreal on one of my scheduled 3 night stays each 3rd week of the Carinthia season, some of junior officers went on board the Pushkin [seen below at Sydney] to have a look around,” he wrote. “It was very basic in most of the accommodation – a lot of cabins not having a bathroom, merely a sink which had to be filled and emptied using a supplied pitcher from somewhere along the alleyway. Posh cabins were more appropriately supplied with bathrooms which, I seem to remember, had a bath but no shower. Some vodka was consumed! We invited some of the Russian officers back on board the Carinthia and they were impressed with the passenger and especially the officer accommodation.” 

He added, “Some years later, a former student of mine served as electro-technical officer on board the Marco Polo and he was pleased to inform me that the ship was no longer in the condition it had formerly been. He enjoyed the years he spent there and I actually went to the pier head in Liverpool to see her. CMV used Liverpool as a turn-around port in those days.”

Above:  The Marco Polo at St Petersburg in May 2015

Red, White & Blue!  Richard Weiss wrote: “Sorting through some miscellaneous ship stuff the other day [Jun 5^th], I came across this issue of Science Illustrated from May 1949. It shows the unmistakable profile of the United States  and with a short article on the pros and cons of operating a big liner and comparing the statistics of passenger loads etc. of the new American liner vs the already successful Cunard Queens. The first page shows a picture of the new ship with William Francis Gibbs looking it over. What is odd is that in this model as well as the cover picture shows the funnels silver for the lower half and above that the traditional colors of United States Lines RW&B. Apparently a name for the new super liner had not been chosen at this time as the author suggested calling her the SS American Engineer due to Mr. Gibbs extraordinary record as a naval architect. This is the earliest publication I have ever seen on the ship and brings up the question of when exactly did she receive the name United States?”

Lives of the Liners: Malolo-Queen Frederica
— by Bill Miller

After surviving a serious collision during her sea trials, this ship went on to induce far greater tourism to the Hawaiian islands.  And later, in a career that spanned some fifty years, it successfully served other owners on a variety of passenger services.

Built for Matson Line’s San Francisco-Honolulu service, carrying up to 693 all-first class passengers, the 17,232-grt Malolo was refitted in 1937 and renamed Matsonia. Used as a troopship 1942-46, it resumed Hawaiian services 1946-48.   Sold to the Home Lines and raising the Panamanian flag in 1948, it was renamed Atlantic for trans-Atlantic service.   Sold to again in 1954, to the National Hellenic American Line (Greek flag), it was renamed Queen Frederica.  Sold yet again, in 1965, to the Chandris Line (also Greek), it ran Atlantic crossings as well as Australian and around-the-world sailings.  Last used as a cruise ship 1970-73, it was laid-up until catching fire when being scrapped in 1978.  The remains were later demolished.