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SHIPS OF THE
ORIENT LINE
continued from page 37
early in 1919, she was then
laid up on the Clyde until
finally sent for scrapping
“On board the RMS Orford” was the
heading printed on this card, posted at Copenhagen, first
port of call on one of her Scandinavian cruises, on 18
August 1930. Its message to a lady in Derbyshire was succinct:
“My darling Molly, This is the boat. At the moment
Charlie, Urs and Mary are in bed, being seasick. Best love
from Pelle.” Fourth in the Orient Line’s postwar building
programme, the 19,941 ton Orford, named after a headland
in Suffolk, was another product of the Vickers-Armstrong
yard at Barrow-in-Furness. She had first cruised to
Norway and the Mediterranean in the summer of 1928
before leaving Tilbury on 13 October 1928 for her maiden
voyage to Australia. After 11 years of these regular trips,
the Orford was requisitioned as a troopship. On 1 June
1940, involved with operations off Marseilles, she was
attacked by German bombers and set on fire; 14 of her
crew were killed. Tugs moved the stricken liner to ground
in a small cove, where she became the first Orient Line victim
of World War II. In 1947 the hulk was refloated and
towed to Savona, Italy, for breaking up.
Zealand, returning by way of
Africa and Canada. An attractive
first-hand account of this
extensive tour, handwritten
and delightfully illustrated by
a talented member of the
crew, Petty Officer Harry
Price, was published in facsimile
in 1980.
The Ophir resumed
scheduled round voyages to
Australia and some summer
cruising until taken over
again by the Admiralty, to
serve as an armed merchant
cruiser from March 1915 until
the end of the war. Paid off
at Troon in 1922.
At various times during
the Boer War years (1899-
1903) the Orient and Austral
served as troopships, as likewise
did the associate PSNC
ships Oratava and Ortona.
As the PSNC became
more closely involved with
the Orient Line, the Australian
service was styled the Orient-
Pacific Line. This marketing
name was changed to the Orient-Royal
Mail Line early in
1906, when the Royal Mail
Steam Packet Company
acquired the PSN Company,
right) Shown here on a company card with the printed
address “On board the Orient Line RMS Orion”, this
23,371 ton liner was launched at the Vickers-Armstrong
yard, Barrow-in-Furness, on 7 December 1934, initiated by
a wireless message from Brisbane by the Duke of Gloucester,
Governor-General of Australia. Noteworthy for her
innovative design, with single funnel and mast, the Orion
offered superior facilities and accommodation extending
over eight decks, for 486 first and 653 third class passengers,
served by a crew of 466. After a shake-down cruise
to the Mediterranean in August 1935, she began her
maiden voyage to Australia on 28 September. These
round trips, along with some summer cruises, continued
until August 1939, when she was requisitioned - before
the outbreak of war - to carry 2,500 Australian troops and
38 nurses to Egypt. The Orion was fitted up as a regular
troopship early in 1940, eventually steaming a total of
380,000 miles and carrying 175,000 service personnel,
before release from Government duty in April 1946. After
being reconditioned by her builders, she resumed voyages
to Australia in 1947; in 1954 she was placed on the trans-
Pacific service linking Sydney, Auckland, Vancouver and
San Francisco. Withdrawn in 1963, the Orion was briefly
used as a hotel ship at Hamburg before being broken up in
Belgium.
38 Picture Postcard Monthly July 2010
(below) This Orient Line “On Board” card offers a view of
the SS Orontes in a Norwegian fjord. Reviving the name of
the earlier liner of 1902-26 vintage, this 20,097 ton vessel
(marginally the largest of the five sister ships of the 1920s)
was delivered from the Vickers-Armstrong yard in 1929, to
begin her maiden voyage to Australia on 29 October that
year. Her scheduled round trips, diversified into summer
cruises and a one-off 6 week tour of the Caribbean in 1933,
were maintained until the Orontes was taken in April 1940
for duty as a troopship - with nominal accommodation for
3,226 men, many in hammocks. Usually carrying rather
fewer, the Orontes made numerous trooping voyages,
including landings in North Africa and Sicily. On one occasion
in 1943 the latter included 4,000 men getting ashore
by her landing barges within two hours. The Orontes later
carried many troops in the Far East. From September 1939
until August 1945 she is credited with carrying 139,167 personnel
and steaming 371,409 miles on these duties. The
Orontes, released by Government in April 1947, was reconditioned
as a one-class ship and resumed services to Australia,
continuing until 1962, when she was sold for
breaking up at Valencia, Spain.
including its Australian interests
and the four ships then
operating under Orient Line
management - Oroya, Orotava,
Oruba and Ortona.
1909 Quintet
In 1907 the Royal Mail gave
notice of its intention to withdraw
them in 1909 to operate
on its own account. The
board of the Orient Line
responded by financing the
building of a whole new class
of five well-designed 12,000-
ton liners.
These were duly delivered
from Glasgow and
Belfast shipyards in 1909, to
make their maiden voyages
from London to Australia
between June and November
that year. The first, named
Orsova, was to continue
steaming for the Orient Line
until 1936. She was followed
by sister ships named Otway
(torpedoed in 1917); Osterley
(1909-30); Otranto (wrecked
in 1918) and Orvieto (1909-
30). These last two liners
were built by the Workman,
Clark company at Belfast.
Another new liner, from
the John Brown yard on
Clydebank, was added to the
Orient Line fleet in 1911. She
was the 12,927-ton Orama,
which replaced the 25 years
old Ormuz.
The SS Orama had only
a short career. Converted into
an armed merchant cruiser
on the outbreak of war in
August 1914, she served until
torpedoed by the German
submarine U-62 on 19 October
1917 while helping to
escort a convoy south of Ireland.