From Grenada...

New Historian

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The slow sad death of the S.S. Southern Cross

This is the Southern Cross, Belfast built in 1955, was the flagship of the Shaw Saville Shipping Line, and the ship that took little me, my two big brothers and Auntie Phyllis, from Trinidad to Liverpool, "several" decades ago! It promised to be a fantastic trip, a kid's paradise: 10 days on board this gi-normous floating playground, filled with hundreds of like-minded kids our own age: wo-yoooyy! Two days out of Trinidad it all came crashing down, when my big brother came down with a MILD dose of chicken pox, but that was enough to get ALL of us locked away for the rest of the journey: quarantined!

The Southern Cross was one of the last of the great liners, and unusually ran on a round-the-world schedule, with Trinidad the last stop on the homeward leg.

After the heyday of the liner industry, the Southern Cross was converted into the new breed: a cruise ship, and sailed under an increasingly dubious list of Greek and American owners, until, finally, the old girl ended up where all old ships go to die: the Bangladeshi boat breakers' yard, in 2003. There was even a "Save the Southern Cross" campaign mounted by old crew and passengers (ehy didn't anyone tell me lol?), but of course, money talks...

houston

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Re: The slow sad death of the S.S. Southern Cross

Interesting story that is NH. The Southern Cross must have been one of the last remaining liners of the age.
The Empress of Ireland was a liner from earlier in the century. She went down in the St. Lawrence about a year or two after the Titanic.

houston

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Re: The slow sad death of the S.S. Southern Cross

Read once about a massive cruise ship that is a floating condo. Investors buy cabins and spend their golden years floating around the globe. Good for some I guess but I think most people need solid footing on a patch of green lawn to feel at home.

Dancer

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Re: The slow sad death of the S.S. Southern Cross

I thought I'll print  something  of  NH early travels  on a cruise ship.  .....and .....
The  reason why he is afraid of cruise ships.
smh. trauma is a  B.... lol