SAD ORSOVA

This slide of Alec Young's was in a terrible state, so I've invested quite a bit of time in an attempted act of salvage, only partially successfully. It is an image of some historic significance, showing a sadly depleted Orsova coming alongside (ironically at the passenger mailship berth at the old Ocean Terminal on the T-Jetty) on her voyage to the breakers. Weather was awful, and the slide is dreadfully faded, magenta-toned and full of marks, but the scan is better than that. Note the missing lifeboats - more dramatic than on some of the other P&O final voyages. You also see interesting details when blowing up the image to remove scratches and spotted dogs with PhotoShop - the crest on the bow presumably shows the "Iron Gate" on the Danube, after which the vessel was named, or at least that's my understanding. - Trevor Jones, Durban.

Comment by Luís Miguel Correia: This is indeed a sad view as ORSOVA was still full of life in early 1974 when her engines were stopped forever, but her sacrifice translated into a rescue to previously doomed and much better CANBERRA, and so ORSOVA gave the later ship another 27 years cruising and trooping around and this was a very brave sacrifice. The ORSOVA was taken out of cruise service by P&O on 25 November 1973 and sailed on her final delivery voyage from Southampton to Kaoshiung, Taiwan, on 20 December arriving at the scrap yard on 14 February 1974 after a call at Durban for bunkers, exactly when this image was registered.