Great mediterranean passenger ship -- caribia
by Published on 20th December 2016 12:29 AM
Cunard's Caronia was probably the most luxurious liner afloat in the Fifties. She also appears, of course, in our new book Maritime Royalty. The 34,000-ton, all-green liner is well remembered by scores of former Cunard staff with great reverence. As one crew member said, "To work the Caronia, on her long and luxurious cruises to ports all the over the world, was a plum assignment at Cunard."
Caribia ex Caronia laid up NYC.jpg
But her final years were troubled, sad, even tragic.
During Cunard's massive fleet reduction in the late 1960s, the Caronia was decommissioned in October 1967. She was later sold to Greek buyers, renamed Caribia and was intended to run New York-Caribbean cruises. She resumed service slightly, but had a fire in the Caribbean and later returned to New York only to slip into a bankrupt, idle, very neglected state (including being berthed stern-first between Piers 84 & 86 for a time and as seen here). Laid-up for her remaining years, she was sold finally to Taiwanese scrappers in 1974, but then wrecked while en route and under tow in a ferocious storm near Guam that August. She broke in three after crashing into a local breakwater; her remains were later removed or demolished.
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